Getting Away Anyway

Well, we decided to get away for the anniversary anyway.
We're living on the edge these days...
Of course its a little unusual for an anniversary getaway in a few ways.
For one, we are taking our kid.
For another, there will be no eating out.
We'll be hitting a grocery store right away and stocking up on "Frank Friendly Food"

We got lucky and found an amazing deal on a hotel room on (in?) Martha's Vineyard for the weekend.
It just got remodeled and even though the whole island is basically sold out because of the holiday weekend, this room was just finished and came on the market one hour before we called.
Oh yeah! It was meant to be.
No one has stayed in this room yet!
Germ free!
And unbelievably cheap because it's a studio...and I don't know why else (because it really is cheap)
...maybe we are on the bad side of town...is there a bad side of town in Martha's Vineyard?

So we are going to ride bikes.
Cook our own food.
Try to avoid crowds on the busiest weekend in the world.
And just hang out as a little family.

We are excited.

Happy Anniversary to us.

Anniversary

Our 24th anniversary is coming up in a couple of weeks.

It's been a rare thing for us to do something really big for our anniversary but we do usually go out...dinner and movie at least.  

When we lived by Frank's parents for those wonderful five years, they always offered to take the kids (little at the time) overnight and we would go somewhere, even if it was just some cheap place since we were as broke as broke could be then.  It was nice to get away.  I remember one anniversary when we went to 3 movies in a row.  That's how rare it was to get out...we felt the need to see ALL the movies at once.

This year is weird knowing that we can't go out.

We can't leave.

No dinner.

No movie.

No getaway.

If we were really creative I'm sure we could think of a way to get away somewhere but the thought of going to some hotel with unknown germs just to say we "got away" isn't that appealing to me.

So we're having a little party here at the house.  We're going to Barbecue.  I'll try to find a good recipe for a cake or something interesting for dessert.  Something that at least looks fancy.  I'll try not to ask Frank to make a pie even though that sounds really fabulous right now. :-)  

The poor man has made 3 already, plus a crust for a quiche.

I'm sure it will be nice and, if we are honest with ourselves, that's really how we like to spend our time anyway, at home with a relaxed meal being casual.  We aren't fancy people.  And when I go out to a nice restaurant with really delicious expensive food, I usually eat too much and then my stomach hurts and I regret it.  So eating at home is a better idea anyway, I have more self control.  That's weird, I know.

We'll probably invite a couple or two over for cards or a movie on the big tv.

In the end, it'll be just right.

And that's how I really want to spend my anniversary.  Enjoying people I care about, eating food I like (and not getting sick in the process), and being grateful to be with the man I love for one more day, one more year.

Frank and the cherry pie

Frank has been craving cherry pie for a few days.

Actually maybe even longer than that.

I remember him wanting cherry pie when he was in the hospital but they only had apple.

So off I went to the grocery store to get the ingredients for a cherry pie.

But I told him that I DO NOT make crust.

I have tried and failed many times.  So I give up.

If he wants home made pie crust then he is on his own.

At the store I bought the refrigerated pie crust as a back up but Frank had been very clear that he did not want that kind of crust.

He wanted home made, flaky crust SO BAD that he was willing to give it a go himself.

As a backup since he was so desperate for a cherry pie he asked me to buy these:

Yes, prepackaged fruit pies.

We have such fond memories of these.

(not as good now, I will warn you)

But Carter and I have still managed to polish off a whole box.

Frank never touched one.

So Frank set to work on the crust and I made the filling (no premade filling for these special pies either)

I'm sorry I don't have any pictures of the finished, baked pie.

But that's because as soon as it was done we began eating it up.

It was amazing.

The crust was so flaky and delicious!

Frank is the new pie crust maker in the house (much to his dismay)

We even went out and bought a pastry cloth today to make it easier.

We are serious now.

I still have 2 refrigerated pie crusts and no idea what to do with them.

But how can I use them when I know I can get a good home made crust from my pastry chef husband?

Sigh

Does anyone else ever feel like motherhood is too much to ask sometimes? Like you are doing your best and it's just not enough? Not freaking enough? Sometimes my kids just surprise me with their selfishness and ingratitude. And yes, they have surprised me with their kindness and gratitude before but it's less often and it wasn't today.

My dilemma

So now that Frank is home, he has all these rules regarding what he can and can't eat.

And basically he can't eat anything fresh.

No fresh fruits or veggies.

Now, obviously these rules do not apply to me.

I can have all the salad I want!

But you tend to not buy the things that your spouse can't have.

It just seems rude.

The other issue is that Frank's taste buds aren't working right.

It's a side effect of chemo and it will eventually wear off.

He's been through it before

so he knows that it does eventually go away.

but it is annoying while its there.

Everything tastes disgusting to him...

it has a metallic, bitter taste

and he can't really taste salt or sweet.

So he tends to crave these two flavors: salty and sweet.

He salts the crap out of everything.

and he'll take a sweetened cereal and add sweetener to it.  

It's nasty.

But I find myself at the grocery store filling my cart with all kinds of prepackaged (the only kinds of things frank can have) sweets.

Now, let's be honest here.

I have a problem already.

I love sweets!

So, do I hate to eat these things?

No indeed.

I'm more than happy to bring home these dangerous items.

I do feel judged at the checkout counter though.

But every week as we go to the clinic for Frank's checkups he is dropping weight.  

Because he eats like a bird, folks.

One bite here, one bite there.

But I am gorging myself on all the crap he isn't eating!

It all tastes just fine and dandy to me.

And, as I mentioned in my previous whiny post

I am having a lot of pain in my back.

So I'm going to the chiropractor and he has told me

no exercise right now

not that I was doing that anyway

Just these little back exercises that burn like 2 calories probably.

So as Frank loses weight

I am gaining

and gaining

and eating

and eating

My only hope here is self control.

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahaha

Yeah.  Not my best feature.

and certainly not right now.

(yes, I'm justifying)

Ok, that's all I have to say.

I'm off to eat a piece of pie for breakfast and put on my fat jeans