Pet Peeves

A few housekeeping-related annoyances

• Dishes stacked on top of glasses in the sink
• Dirty utensils sunk deep inside a pot soaking in water
• Knives left out with food stuck to them
• Cutting board left out after cutting up avocados - with chunks of avocado dried up and smeared
• Bowls, mugs, glasses left sitting all over the house
• Waste of paper towels (we have rags! and tissues! and cloth towels)
• Shoes, bags, violins, and backpacks left all over the floor and blocking my way
• People not responding when I ask a question
• Forgetting that I have bread in the works and the dough over-proofing
• Making mistakes when mixing ingredients for a recipe that I've done a 1000 times
• Setting the wrong temperature on the oven
• The sound on my phone failing to work, so no alarm to wake me up on time!
• Clean laundry sitting around in baskets (or in the dryer)

And what about you? What's annoying right now?

Snow and Weekend

We got snow.

The temperatures are below freezing.

Real winter, at last! (At least for a few days.)

The start of the weekend was a bit stressful because of the snow-storm-induced changes to events, which caused my careful stack of kid activities to nearly collapse. Specifically, our son's concert was moved to an earlier time, which meant I no longer could pick up one of my kids from a get-together with friends or drive another kid to a birthday party. Luckily, they were able to get rides with friends.

Speaking of the concert: it was high school musicians playing Shostakovich Symphony #5. They were good!!! It was quite competitive to get into this districts-level orchestra and E was very happy with himself. He auditioned for the next level (regionals), but didn't make it. The kids had 2 all-day rehearsals, and then they performed. E was bummed he didn't make it to the regionals, but he loved playing Shostakovich. 

When everyone was finally home (before the storm hit) - I was so relieved. Our youngest was very unhappy about having to skip a sleepover, but I just didn't feel comfortable leaving her at someone else's house with the crazy weather coming (although the other girls stayed). 

Sunday was very laid-back: we did some sledding, I read in front of the fireplace, the kids watched a movie... E made his signature Shepherd's Pie. 

I do love sledding. 

Are you getting a lot of snow in your area? Do you have a favorite snow-dependent activity?

Acquired Taste

We had dinner with friends last Saturday, and we talked a bit about food likes and dislikes. And that got me thinking - some foods that I really like now were not an instant hit for me.

Examples:

• Sushi/sashimi (went from "I don't know about this" to "love it", but it took a few tries)
• Indian food (first time was "hmmm interesting" but now I love it)
• Fresh figs
• Coffee (I always loved the smell but didn't particularly like the flavor or how it made me feel - all hyper and chatty)
• Eggplant (did not like it as a child, grew to love it as a teenager)
• Peanut butter

And in reverse, there were some foods I used to enjoy but now can't deal with (not sure if it's a temporary oversaturation or a permanent change):

• Pineapple
• Nutella
• Avocado
• Sweet tea (tea without sugar is still lovely)
• Cranberry juice (too sweet)

How about you? What are our acquired and dis-acquired tastes?