I'm fairly certain that half of the food I ate this week was bell peppers. They were an ingredient in nearly every dish. I like bell peppers; they are versatile and add fun colors to a meal. But why are we eating so many of them these days? Answer - the kiddo. Kiddo is still in that picky eating stage. All things considered, she's eating well but most vegetables are still suspect. When she decides she likes a specific vegetable, I ride that for as long as possible. Right now, she's on a big raw red pepper strips and cucumber kick. Fine by me! I will keep those around until she moves on to something else. When it comes to meal planning, I try to balance what we adults like with what the kiddo might actually eat. I don't want to have to make two entirely separate dinners every night. Right now, I try to make dishes where she will eat least half of the ingredients. Alternatively, I'll make an adult dish that has a kid friendly tweak - i.e., omitting everything but the cheese from the filling when I make quesadillas. It's working for now, but I can't wait until the kiddo's palette expands a bit more. She promises that she will eat "mommy-daddy dinner" when she turns five. I'm not holding my breathe, but you never know. Kids surprise you like that. If you're feeding kids, what works for you?
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Now that I've used AirPods for years, I can't imagine going back to wired earbuds. The lack of strings flapping around makes walking and working out so much easier. I love how much more mobile I feel. Here's what else made me happy this week:
I read a lot of books with my kiddo. Kid Reads is a biweekly look at what we've enjoyed recently.
*Books shared here are affiliate links for Bookshop.org
It's that time of the year where DC has its first 90 degree days but the office buildings have not converted to AC. Thank goodness I had the forethought to keep a fan in my cubicle cabinet. It's kept temperatures tolerable and not nap inducing. Here's what I've been working on:
I land firmly in the camp that language is always changing. Meaning shifts over time, new words arise, slang is fun, and rules are meant to be broken. Grammar and syntax are important but understanding matters more. BUT I work in academia and grew up in a well read family. As much as I don't care about language rules, some things just sound clunky. I was educated a certain way and what's deeply engrained in my brain is hard to ignore. These days, I catch myself wincing when I overhear certain things. I was reminded of some of those things while watching a home design TV show this week. The narrator described ancient villages dotting the Scottish countryside as "countless." I literally recoiled at that comment. Growing up, I always heard my dad say that there are only two "countless" things: stars in the sky and grains of sand on Earth. Everything else can be counted. Using "countless" is just lazy writing. Another familial complaint is the use of the word "very" before "unique." Unique is unique - it does not need a modifier. In fact, AP Style just doubled down on this. When I'm editing, I try to remove as many "verys" as possible. More often than not, it's unnecessary. Finally, the common way we use "decimate(d)" annoys almost everyone in my family. "Decimated" means to kill one in ten. In modern usage, it means "mass destruction." Again, this is fine, but a different word would probably work better. What are your language bug-a-boos?
I will never get tired of living close to our public library. It is literally a block away. I can run over and grab books whenever I want. I look forward to the day our kiddo can make her first solo journey there. Here's what else is making me smile:
A History of the World in 6 Glasses Tom Standage I picked this up to tied me over until the books on my library holds list come in. I'm only part of the way through the chapter on beer but it is FASCINATING! I love how the author ties the development of civilization with the advent of brewing. I'm going to need to put this one down soon, but I look forward to getting back to it. *Books shared here are affiliate links for Bookshop.org One thing I wanted to do more this year was get through my massive pile of saved articles to read. I even added a line in my bullet journal's habit tracker to encourage me. The year started out strong, but I've since faded as "stuff" has come up. Maybe this summer I can make a dent... Here's what I've been working on:
Quite the assortment of titles this time. The Mars book is for kids but I can't wait to read it myself. You can see my complete TBR list on Pinterest.
*Items featured may be Bookshop.org affiliate links. Another short intro this week because the kiddo and I flew back from Florida yesterday. Each bit of travel we do with the kiddo makes things easier. We're learning what we do and don't need and how much she'll tolerate. Fingers crossed that things only keep getting better. Our trip was great fun - even if I did need to work for most of it. Something about getting to log-off and visit the pool and eat dinner outside makes an average work day feel a bit like a vacation.
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