A Faux Post

I want to start tonight with my faux-pumpkin bars. They were fabulous, and highly unappreciated in this house, although when I went to give a bunch of the leftovers to our neighbors, my boy did panic and say, "You're not going to give all of it away are you?" They were spectacular faux-pumpkin bars. Once a week, we get a delivery from Boston Organics, a box full of organic fruits and veggies, and I'm on a quest to actually use all the items we get. (Never fear--it never goes to waste. I fondly call Beetle, my neighbor, our human garbage disposal, as she's always game to take any food that will be uneaten in our household.) I'm also trying to cook as many meatless meals as possible, something which is not going over that well with the rest of my household members (read: Adam). For instance, on Wednesday we had a lovely cauliflower and tomato curry-like dish that I enjoyed and Adam tolerated. And today we had my lovely bars, a recipe I found online and then tweaked to perfection, replacing the pumpkin with organic delicata squash (hence the faux), mixing up the sugars, removing the chocolate chips and adding a cream cheese frosting. Mmmmm!

And now let's move on to my faux-healthy daughter. She fools me every day, acting healthy and chipper and happy and then--wham!--at night, she has aches and pains that keep her for hours on end. Last night she awoke at 2 a.m., saying her "brain hurt." Uh oh,, I thought. Here it comes. Piggy flu. Sudden onset. Headaches. But then she woke up with a lovely 98.7 degree temperature and an upbeat attitude. She went to school. On Friday we have our special Mommy-Pie time, as she's done at noon and we have no activities till we pick up Doodles at 2:15. Today we went on a "hike" (read: woodsy walk), stopping frequently to read the book du jour, Chicken Soup with Rice. At the end of the hike, we had to walk up a small hill. And my daughter--the one I had always thought of as suspiciously smart--announces, "I'm going to roll up the hill!"

"You mean down," I said.

"No!" She looked at me like I was crazy. "Up!" And then she proceeded to roll up this rather steep hill. Tonight Adam said to her, "You thought you could roll up a hill?" and she laughed at him and replied, "Daddy! I did it!"

And tonight, she's in bed, with not quite a fever, but verging on one, snoring loudly and crying out in her sleep every now and then. So frustrating! We're supposed to have a special Mommy-Daughter trip next weekend--I hope she's healthy enough to go.

And now let's end with faux time. Which is what I had today, after I dropped Pie off at school, ran some errands, and hurried home to get a few things done. But then I giddly looked at my watch and realized I had accomplished everything I needed to do faster than I thought and I had a precious whole forty-five minutes to write! It's Nanowrimo month, and I've consciously decided not to participate as I don't want to start something new; I want to finish something old. So I sat down at my computer... and saw I was late to pick up Pie. Huh? Look at computer. Look at watch. Look at computer again. Look at... stopped watch. Damn.

No more faux. Off to sleep. I'm hoping for the real deal.