Birds, birthdays, mushrooms, and mothers

I went to a 1-year old's birthday party yesterday.  I wanted to skip it, but at the same time, I knew I would get fed really well.  My desire for good food I don't have to make or pay for far outweighed the knowledge that I would spend 2 hours at a place where I only know the person who invited me.

After I got home I was ready to write a 10 page missive about how ridiculous children's birthday parties are, especially when you are one-year-old.  There were 20-ish adults at the party (yup, I counted), which makes about 10 presents.  I wouldn't doubt that every single package for this kid cost at least $30-$50.  Every single person (except me!) bought multi-step presents, and all of them (except mine!) included at least 2 outfits.  Seriously, this child had over 30 new outfits (15 were from her grandmother) by the time she was done "opening" presents (in reality her 3 year old brother opened them while she sat and ate tissue paper).  It was a good example of excess and ridiculousness.  I mean the food was good, but not that good.

I, on the other hand, firmly  believe in making presents.  When the 3 year old opened the present I brought, he was super excited about it and immediately threw it at his 1 year old sister.  AWESOME.

An owl pillow.  Made with materials I had on hand.  Turned out cute, I think.  Cute enough for a 1 year old at least.

And somehow it has turned into my Monday again.  How?  My weekends go by entirely too fast when there's less than 48 hours worth of them.  And again, two 12-hour days to start off my week.

*deep breath*

I made some fancy stuff so far today.  An ice-cream cake (my coworker requested it for her birthday on Thursday) is sitting in the freezer.

Veggie cornbread.  It kind of looks like a fail, but it is actually very very good.  The mushrooms make it, I think.  If you want to see what it's supposed to look like, see this recipe.  

Teriyaki tempeh with mushrooms.  Hard to tell what's going on because I used purple rice, so there's no variety of colors, but it is AMAZING.  If you don't want to use tempeh, just use the recipe for teriyaki sauce.  

I'm trying a blueberry banana smoothie today.  It is made and in the fridge, waiting for me to head off to work.

Earlier today I had to rescue a tiny bird from my sunroom.  Somehow it got in, but couldn't get out as it was confused by all the windows.  It kept flying head-first into them.  Yikes.  It only took 20 minutes to coax it into a box so I could release it outside.  With Atticus whining on the other side of the door the entire time.  Oi.

Happy mothers day to all the mothers out there!

Especially mine!!!

Love you, Mom!

Sing out loud in the car even, or especially, if it embarrasses your children.  
~ Marilyn Penland