Quarantine in a Quarantine, and Other More Fun Things

So I have many updates beyond just the kitten and my closet, but suddenly none of them matter when compared to the kitten now living in my bathroom.

Mr. Moose, the spunky black wonder kitty and Maggie's very best friend, has RINGWORM.

Oh yes, mere MOMENTS after the two of them snuggled up for the first time and my heart exploded and Maggie was so excited to have a snuggle buddy that she didn't even move when she woke up so as not to disturb her tiny fuzzy friend, I texted my best friend about a bald patch on Moose's back. Her dad is a vet and I knew he was at her house celebrating Father's Day (sorry Dr. Pops, hope the steak was delicious). I wasn't super concerned, but I thought the sudden bald spot was weird and seemed worth a quick picture. She immediately called me, "do you have a black light?" Thanks to a laser pointer toy they'd just bought the cat, we did, and when we turned off the light and shined the black light on his bald spot it lit up bright green. Mr. Moose had the ringworm.

UNCLEAN

Not actually a worm, but a fungus, I was told to put an OTC anti-fungal on the spot and scan Maggie with the same light. She did have any green, but got a bath just in case. I bought the cream, felt okay about things, and then- out of pure unhealthy compulsion- turned to the google. And the google told me terrible things.

I knew from Dr. Pops/science that ringworm was highly contagious and can jump between pets and humans, but everyone online treats it like Ebola. Next thing I knew we were moving furniture, vacuuming carpets, spraying furniture down with a 1:10 bleach spray, and washing everything soft that Moose has ever touched which is basically everything in the entire house. Mr. Moose was quarantined to the bathroom and VERY SAD about it. He sang a loud and lonely song while we disinfected and we were all very sad. It was an EXCELLENT pre-Father's Day evening for the father who was skeptical about getting the cat.

Today, when I had pretty much convinced myself that all this prevention seemed worse than the disease itself (I mean, it's ringworm, it's the same fungus as athlete's foot; kind of gross, but perhaps not as emotionally taxing as eyeing every surface of my house suspiciously and wondering if it had received a sufficient amount of bleach; also, Moose remained the SADDEST and he's just a baby), he had possible new spots by his ears that were losing hair and were now scratched from his claws. I talked to Dr. Pops again and he supported the 2+ week quarantine I was hoping he'd say wasn't necessary, but did say that I didn't need to clean the house again (a benefit of the quarantine setup). I called our vet again (I'd tried earlier, but appointments were at least a week out) and begged for a closer one- we're now on for this Wednesday afternoon. I've added ketoconazole shampoo baths, which has been SUPER FUN for both me and Moose.

Poor Moose, one day he's a rescue kitten living large on top of a tall cat tree surrounded by love and cat toys, and the next day, you're living in a bathroom, separated from your tiny humans, sleeping in a bathtub and turning into Wolverine while getting a bath. What in the actual fuck, says Moose.

So if you have a ringworm cat success story I would very much like to hear it. Particularly if it doesn't involve things like "throwing away anything that can't be disinfected, like your cat tree" which is something I read online but just can't believe is necessary. I've sprayed it thoroughly with the bleach solution twice and vacuumed it. He won't get it back until he's clear. SURELY that is overkill. But I'm only a google trained vet and my training is mostly reading things and thinking "no, please, that can't be right."

Maggie is bereft without her new friend and has no idea where he's gone. I got her a new dress for comfort and though she still has a hole in her heart, it's now rainbow colored and that helped.

Fren?

Now I'm just sitting around in my jumpsuit trying not to google anything else terrible.

Kidding, though I did keep the jumpsuit!

You all convinced me and it is the most comfortable thing in the world. I actually ended up keeping the whole Fix because the 25% "keep everything" discount meant it would cost more to send back only one thing than to keep it all. Maybe boho chic will finally work for me with that white blouse and if not, I have friends I can give it to. Same with the maxi. Mostly it just killed me to send back 2 items for a difference in price of exactly $9 and so I kept it all. MATH, I know it.

But it was super fun to get your comments, thank you! You inspired me to take an aimless trip to TJ Maxx on Saturday to just look for things that make me smile behind my mask. Like this dress.

And this one.

Someday when we leave the house again, I'll have pretty things to wear. And after really shutting down all nonessential spending since March, it was fun to loosen just a little for a weekend.

Also this weekend- beyond sterilizing the house and buying a party dress for a currently partyless lifestyle- was Father's Day!

James insisted it not be a big things ("no presents"), but the kids still made their sweet cards and I make breakfast and his choice of dinner.

There was confetti and a tiny present and pasta puttanesca for dinner.

We did very little and just hung out a lot and it was a lovely day.

Also in the past week, before we knew the cat we couldn't stop touching had a contagious fungal disease, we played the vintage/original game of Life! I LOVE Life. It is my favorite boardgame, but I must confess I have been unimpressed with the new version you can buy in stores. It tried to hard to be modern and shiny and took all the fun away- plus it separated jobs from salary and you bought different houses and it all ended up with very odd results. But the old version - sold at Target briefly earlier this year - it is CUTTHROAT and wonderful.

There's a lot of gambling and emotion.

Landon discovered a gambling addiction and learned you could be loaned money when you didn't have any. He went deeply in debt and would have had his knee caps broken in Vegas for sure.

Last Wednesday our entire HVAC system was pulled out and replaced. We now have two brand new HVAC units and all new duct work throughout the house that properly pushes air to the various rooms for an even temperature. It was very expensive and very necessary and, as boring grown-ups now, we were very excited to have it done.

This giant fan used to be in our ceiling- it would move air through the back hallway before the house had AC. Old houses, while expensive, are also fun.

Also last week, Cora went to Zoo Camp. It's the only week of camp anyone is doing this summer and she only got to because I signed up back in March before our trip and it wasn't canceled. We debated whether she should go, but they had a lot of safety protocols in place, including daily temperature taking, and we decided that more than the older two, she needed her peers for a week of fun, hands-on, in-person education.

And she had a BLAST. Songs! Coloring! Animals! She needed all of these things for her poor denied Kindergarten loving heart. Having to pack a lunch and get her somewhere at a certain time nearly killed James and me - we are SO out of practice - but it was great for her and worth the hassle and concern.

It also wiped her out. We found her fast asleep before dinner three times last week.

(Also, when she found the stick in the picture above while we were walking to my car, she exclaimed, "Mom! Look at this stick! This might be the greatest stick I've ever seen!" and that is all very peak Cora. She is exuberant and loves a good weapon.)

And now, on to food! And speaking of, Landon continues to love his online cooking class. Last week he made granola and when I got home from a doctor's appointment it was to a post-it letting me know my piece of the finished product was in the fridge. It was the cutest - and delicious!

(Later he explained he picked the clear glass so I could admire the layers and he tried to make them very even. Top Chef has had a big impact this summer.)

Recipes for the next 2 weeks!

Sun: Roasted Tomato Pasta Puttanesca, Chicken Meatballs (double batch to freeze half for next week).
Mon: Run Fast Eat Slow Fartlek Chili (made with Ground Bison), toppings, chips (TJ's Organic corn chips are THE BEST).
Tues: Big Salad Night! Big bowl of lettuce and all the things (tomato, carrot, cucumber, bell pepper, hard boiled egg, avocado, kidney beans, olives, cheese) and balsamic dressing.
Wed: Tacos, Mexican Rice, Refried Black Beans.
Thurs: Minestrone Soup with Farro
Fri: Out!
Sat: Pizza. I made Chicago Style Pizza again this past Saturday as a pre-Father's Day gift, thinking about trying a new crust this time... maybe this Detroit-style? I like as much carb as possible in my pizza pies...
Sun: Salmon (I coat the salmon in the rub and broil for a few minutes), Mashed Potatoes, Sauteed Vegetables.
Mon: Garlic Herb Spaghetti with Chicken Meatballs (using last week's double batch).
Tues: Dorito Taco Salad (I use a dash of Italian dressing in lieu of the Catalina in the recipe).
Wed: Red Beans and Rice, corn bread.
Thurs: Grandma Mary's Mexican Rice, all the toppings.

This post is a mess and I'm publishing it anyway

The draft of my New Year's Resolutions post keeps staring at me, but despite doing great on a few of my 2016 goals I am doing TERRIBLE on the most important one and I'm determined to have something positive to say before I post it. I mean, we're already 7 weeks late, what's a few more?

On the bright side, I'm working out a TON and my body has adjusted and I no longer pass out when I hit my bed and I feel strong and flexible and just really really good. I substitute-taught barre on Friday, taught my class on Saturday, taught my workshop on Saturday two hours later (SO FUN!), ran and went to yoga on Monday, taught class Tuesday night, taught class tonight, and am teaching Friday morning. It feels fantastic. I have some fresh faces in class, I have some regulars I'm getting to know well, and I'm getting close to the one-year anniversary of the day my barre teacher/mentor asked if I'd would ever be interested in teaching and my heart jumped into my chest and with a glorious, life-affirming mix of joy and utter terror, I yell/texted YES!!!!! in reply. Truly one of the best, most fun, most rewarding (most Lululemon addiction enabling) things I've ever done. I can't imagine not being able to have this bright, beautiful thing in my life and it has very much affected my vision of my future legal career path.

In other bright and beautiful news, our back patio is done! And it looks great!

Also, redoing your back deck is a quick and utterly painless remodel after having done three bathrooms and a kitchen. The crew arrived early Saturday morning and finished Monday. Besides the obvious deck work, they did a lot of small but important maintenance things. So the deck is refinished and is now a pleasant blue grey as opposed to a strange dark orange (I like orange, but it did not go with our house or yard at all). We have a bench! My addition to the plan and finally somewhere to put people's towels and bags that isn't the table with all the food. Several exterior doors (we have 9) have been reframed and reblocked so the rain won't make them rot anymore (our deck isn't covered- and I don't want it to be because I adore all the natural light we get and the trees give us more than enough shade- but it is a little rough on the extensive door and window frames). The giant white structure has been removed from the small patio and a step has been added all the way around. (Concrete staining- another pleasant blue/grey color is coming next week.) And, most important- and most expensively- WE HAVE LIGHT! Our backyard has never had an exterior light. Apparently in nearly 70 years, no owner of this house has wanted to be outside after dark, but we do and now we can! The kids acted like we'd invented electricity when we switched them on and they could ride their bikes around the pool and play on the playground after the sun went down. I'm so, so excited about this.

We also had a bunch of electrical stuff done on the inside - all the rest of our recessed lights have been switched out to LEDs (we did most with the kitchen remodel), which means for the first time ever all the lights in our TV room, bedroom, and bathroom hang at the same level, turn on at the same time, AND burn at the same intensity. Our TV room has 4 lights, but only 3 dimmed, so every time we watched a movie, we'd dim the 3 and then James would stand on his tiptoes and unscrew the bulb of #4. This will no longer be necessary and we were practically giddy when we dimmed them Monday night for the premiere of Better Call Saul.

As I mentioned last time, our beautiful sideboard is here and I love it so much and have filled it with nearly every breakable thing I own. It was damaged slightly in shipment- the little magnets on the inside that keep the doors closed were broken off, a big crack across an interior piece of wood, and a few chips on the outside. I contacted Wayfair with pictures and they immediately wrote back with an offer to send us four replacement magnets and a $150 discount. I wrote back, accepting the offer and thanking them for their quick response. The next morning I woke up to an email letting me know that the magnets weren't available from the manufacturer, so they were shipping me a WHOLE NEW SIDEBOARD. First of all, amazing. Second of all, too amazing. It's a 300 lb, 6 foot long, gigantic piece of furniture- we're already going to spend the next month trying to get all the wrapping materials cycled through our trash and recycle bins, so I called and said wait, if you're willing to do that- and THANK YOU for being willing to do that- can we just take a bigger discount and save you the trouble of buying and shipping a whole new item to us? (And us the hassle of dealing with two of the gigantic items?). And that's how I ended up with nearly 50% off my beautiful birthday present and a lifelong commitment to shopping at Wayfair. Which given that the TV room is where I'm turning my decorating attentions to next, it shouldn't be a problem to indulge that commitment early and often.

And finally, in other wonderful but completely unrelated things, have you had spasagna? It's spaghetti lasagna and there are lots of recipes, but I have made my own (adapted from here, with way less cheese, which is a rare change for me to make but it was delicious) and think you all should eat it.

Spasagna

Ingredients
1 lb (16 ounces) spaghetti noodles, uncooked
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (I used 1.5; originally recipe called for 4)
8 ounces ricotta cheese
1 cup half-and-half (I do 1/3 skim milk, 2/3 heavy cream b/c I never have half and half but always have the other two)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon kosher salt

Meat Sauce:
1 lb. ground beef
1/2 cup chopped white onion
chopped garlic
1 (24 ounce) jar spaghetti sauce

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray/grease a 9x13 baking dish.
2. Cook spaghetti al dente according to package directions.
3. In a large mixing bowl, stir together ricotta, half-and-half, mozzarella, oregano, basil, pepper, garlic, salt, and Parmesan cheese.
4. Add drained spaghetti to cheese mixture, mixing gently until spaghetti is evenly coated with mixture.
5. Gently place spaghetti mixture into prepared dish. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees in pre-heated oven for 30 minutes.
6. Remove from oven, remove foil and place dish on cooling rack for 10 minutes.
7. While pasta is cooking, prepare the meat sauce by browning ground beef with onion and garlic. Add spaghetti sauce and let simmer for about ten minutes.
8. Cut baked pasta into into squares and top with meat sauce.

So simple. So delicious. Pretend we ate it with a side salad. Big hit with the whole family. As is the kids' new obsession with America Ninja Warrior, a show Claire has never even seen and Landon has seen maybe once. They make obstacle courses everywhere and I Love how the big kids are trying to be all tough and Cora is just beaming with "I'M HERE! I'M A BIG KID! I'M DOING THE BIG KID THINGS!".

Okay, I'm off to bed because it's late and I'm suing someone tomorrow, but I hope you are all doing well and I promise updates on the children and my New Year's Resolutions soon. Oh and I just realized I didn't post about Valentine's Day! It happened and it was lovely. It started with our children knocking on our door in the middle of a morning round of Parcheesi which is really just hilariously perfect. The kids had very sweetly decorated the table for us and wanted us to see. And we did, later. Our midday involved a family trip to Home Depot for renovation-related purchases and a children's play at Casa Manana (Schoolhouse Rock- so cute!), and ended with James and I on the couch sharing Chinese food, sweet cards, a bottle of champagne, Downton Abbey and The Walking Dead. And non-interrupted Parcheesi. Pretty perfect.

Performances and Shiny New Things

I have my Beginner Barre Workshop today. I'm quite excited- I have my talking points, workout plan, outfit, and chocolate cake all ready to go! I'm also teaching my regular 11:45-1 class, in addition to the 2:30-4:30 workshop (and I taught yesterday morning, and Tuesday night), so I am also quite excited about the margaritas and queso I'll be inhaling after the Day O' Barre is over.

Leggings and cake; what else does a workshop need?

After years of baking, I finally used the workshop and its totally unnecessary post-workout treats to justify the purchase of my first cake stand. I just love it and now feel inspired to bake and display all the cakes on the internet. Valentine's is going to be FULL of dark chocolate and champagne this year!

Earlier this week Claire had her first elementary school performance- a Kindergarten class show to open the February PTA Meeting.

Obviously, she was super excited about this. She is our musical child. She hears a song once on the radio and somehow knows every word. She is always singing and it wasn't until she went through Kindergarten, with the same teacher as Landon, that we learned they sing every day in class. Landon never once mentioned this and seemed surprised by all the songs Claire sang for us. For him all songs, including Justin Bieber's "Sorry" that comes on the radio three times in our five minutes of driving, are brand new, but he can recite facts about animals for hours. Whereas last week Claire and I were talking about some concept she was learning in school, and she said, "Mom, it really helps if you could just sing it to me. Then I can remember everything."

Claire's teacher told us that Claire knew all 7 of their performance songs almost immediately and that everyone in the class would turn to look at her if they forgot a line; we could see that throughout the performance and it was adorable. Cora was also super excited about the performance. She insisted on jumping in one of the pictures with her big sister beforehand, and in the middle of song #3 she finally realized her beloved "Yaya" was on the stage and she jumped up and exclaimed, "Yaya! YA! YA!!". Up until that point, she had just been enjoying the music sung by this collection of anonymous small children.

Landon, who rarely jumps in my pictures anymore, requested one in front of his class's reader leader board. They're in first place for number of books read and he's a big part of it. He loves school so much, and is so low key about it. We have still never practiced his spelling words or done anything with his homework, but whenever I feel guilty about our total uninvolvement with his academics, I remind myself that he has super high grades and we have plenty of years ahead of us to argue about getting homework done. We'll be there when he needs it and in the meantime we discuss wildlife facts and fight over our rule that one in five books he reads be fiction.

All the kids had their Valentine's parties yesterday which was super exciting for all (and L&C's Friday night gymnastics class was particularly well timed). Cora wore Claire's old Valentine's outfit and it was adorable. I took her outside to get a picture and she immediately jumped in front of the school sign where I take all the big kids pictures. We got one there as she waved goodbye to L&C on their way to school and then headed over to the bushes.

When I picked her up she was covered in mac and cheese, had eaten her first cupcake, and had scraped both of her knees falling down while running, so basically it was a perfect toddler kind of a day.

As I type this a crew is on my back patio power washing and sanding it before re-staining the wood and doing a bunch of other projects like replacing the rotting step to the pool both and reframing our door where part of the wood has rotted. After checking off renos of the bathrooms and the kitchen, we're now turning to the exterior for a few projects (including, eventually, the roof, but I'm delaying that until water starts pouring into my house when it rains). Luckily this project is minimally invasive (the crew arrived at 6 a.m. and I didn't even get up until 7:30) and not subject to things like "did the old owners re-wire something wrong?" or "is this wall load bearing?". As part of the renovation, we're FINALLY getting outdoor lighting installed. In our nearly 4 years in this house we have never been able to turn on an outside light. When the sun goes down, the backyard is pitch black until morning, so this is going to be very exciting. We're also borrowing the electrician to install a gorgeous new dining room light I bought on Joss & Main and install recessed lights in our closet because those giant track lights are ugly and terrible and James hits his head on them when he walks through.

new dining table lights!

Relatedly, I bought this GORGEOUS sideboard as a birthday present over a month ago and it finally arrived yesterday. I absolutely adore it.

We had one from my parents that was lovely and great in Austin, but too small for the space and too "country" in style for our mid-century modern bungalow/Fort Worth house. So after waiting several years, stalking all furniture sites on the internet, blowing out our and redoing our kitchen, I finally settled on the perfect thing. It's huge - 72" long and 24" deep and weighing 300 lbs. and it's a statement piece to define the whole dividing wall between the living room and sun room and perfectly "glams" up the space between the dining and living room. Plus, it stores ALL our china, crystal, serving pieces, vases, and more. And I think it's the perfect thing to look at from across our (now open!!) kitchen. And since it was Wayfair, it was tax-free, had free shipping, and I spent $5 on ebay to get a 10% off coupon code to save even more money.

(Can you tell I obsessed and agonized over the purchase for months?)

pretty silvery finish

But I do love it. And with the new light fixture over the dining room table, I think the space is really going to look finished. I can't wait to show it to you!

Apartment C-Squared

We finished it two weekends ago, but I had important things like new rain boots and kids in costumes to discuss. But here it is, without further ado, in all its way-too-much-furniture-assembly-required glory, the girls' room!

Except, as I've mentioned, I LOVE HGTV and glimpses inside other people's homes, so in case you're the same, and to honor all my online shopping, obsessing, and nagging of James to assemble/hang things, we're going to break this down.

First up, we have the changing table that I bought as a surprise bonus Ikea assembly item even though Cora will be out of diapers in a year because we sold the dresser we used to change her on top of and I hate bending down to the floor and didn't want to use Claire's bed for her baby sister's poop elimination and diaper restoration process because it felt like that would kick off their roommate relationship on the wrong foot. So it's kind of in the way when you walk in, but it's temporary, so I've allowed it.

There's a tiny little corner between the closet and a low window I didn't want to block, so after much brainstorming, it's now a dress-up corner!

A sweet stand-up mirror, some hooks for their jewels, and a bin for their dress up clothes (and purses, except Cora was currently wearing all of them when I took the picure). I also got a new little piece of art to christen their new apartment.

Continuing on, past the giant closet doors blocking all the work I did cleaning out and reorganizing everything they own, we come to the new dresser (also Ikea! lucky lucky James!) and my absolute favorite spot in the room- the reading corner.

Perfect on a rainy dreary day and bright sunny ones too, I wanted to use the space, but didn't want to block the big corner windows that are original to the house. I decided it would be a perfect place for their beloved PBK chairs (Cora generally borrowed/commandeered Landon's, but she got a new one of her very own as an early birthday present). I'd ordered the canopy to put over Claire's bed, but once I got going, I knew this was the higher use.

Cora adores books but isn't so neat about putting them away, so a bin for the corner seemed perfect. A PBK sequin lamp bought for $10 off our neighborhood buy/sell page and a few frames I already head with new pictures seemed to round it out nicely.

The top of the dresser also got some repurposed items, plus a few bargain glass pieces (Hobby Lobby is awesome for this; the flowers, pink vase, and Eiffel glass cost a total of $12) and updated pictures. And a new piece of art (also Hobby Lobby; also $12!)

Next up, Claire's bed!

After much debate (all in my own head; with occasional one-sided out loud conversations with James), we decided we'd keep Cora in her crib for as long as possible and then use the conversion kit to make it a toddler bed for as long as possible, delaying the day for as long as possible the day we need to fit two twins or suck it up and get a bunk bed. Cora can't be trusted around one right now, and maybe not ever, but we could live in Colorado or Houston in three years for all I know, so this delays figuring out big girl bed logistics for a while longer. So, back to Claire's bed- I still wanted a bed for Landon for slumber parties and for when we have guests (his room is still the designated guest room), so we needed a trundle, but I didn't want a daybed because that would block part of the window, and I didn't want a footboard because that would ALSO block part of the window. So I solved world peace by finding a twin bed frame with pop-up trundle that we could just attach a cute white headboard to. Except it was all super complicated and I came in at one point during James's attachment process to request that he refrain from yelling "this is a total shit show." Muttering was allowed.

But it's perfect!

Another canvas (Marshalls!), a sparkly C (I bought it months ago at Ross; I knew no matter what I did in that room, this would somehow fit), and a ribbon board for Claire to display her favorite art and pictures, and she has her own big girl corner. There will also be a shelf above her bed- it's purchased but we haven't been able to paint it because it keeps raining every weekend. But every big sister needs a place for treasures her little sister can't reach and hers is coming.

I bought that little bookcase/toy bin on Amazon and it is super sturdy and looks really nice in person. It's perfect between their two beds. My hope is as the kids get a little older, more toys migrate to the girls room and the play room turns into a homework/arts and crafts space. There's always a project!

I made little scrapbook pages with their birth announcements and got to reuse Claire's nursery art from Austin that I loved so much.

The number cards are also from Claire's nursery, as are the butterflies. I love when you get to use things over and over in new spaces. Cora got some new crib sheets to coordinate with her big sister and Claire got a new sheet set or two, including one with rainbows and unicorns because I couldn't resist. The giant rug is 8' x 11' (the room is really big) and from Target. It's super soft and doubles as the girls' new gymnastics training area.

All in all I'm thrilled with the space. It's bright and warm and cozy and happy and just a little sparkly - just like my girls!