I've got nothing

I swear, I had something to write here, but now I'm staring at the empty box and... nothing. *sigh* I guess that's a sign it's bed time. It was the last day of school vacation week today, so there is a sense of sadness about the house. Because of long hours earlier in the week, I was able to finish up at noon today and spend a nice long afternoon enjoying Rowan's company (or at least enjoying sitting on a bench reading the paper watching her play at the park for part of it). I wish we had more time like that, with no homework or work work to get in the way! Oh, and Rowan made dinner tonight - "Tropical Chicken" made in the microwave. Other than chopping the ginger root and parsley and cutting the icky bits off the raw chicken, she did the whole thing herself. She was so proud, and it was actually pretty good (chicken, pineapple, coconut, parsley, lemon... it was not a combination I would have chosen on my own, but I was pleasantly surprised!). She's working on a cooking Girl Scout badge, and one requirement was to cook with an appliance other than the stove or oven. Tomorrow night she's making meatballs with ground turkey (another requirement - take a recipe and make it healthier by making a substitution in one ingredient, in this case, turkey for beef) and at some point making some sort of fruit smoothie fest (ugh, count me out of THAT one). And Sunday she's on for breakfast (egg recipe). I wish there were more badges that got me out of cooking for the better part of a weekend!

Quotable

Two quotes from tonight that cracked me up: "I love when they drive fast and talk tough!" -Gary, watching the new Fox show "Ride," gushed without a hint of irony. "You're not showing me any love right now!" -Rowan, when we made her eat broccoli with dinner. (That was one of those "bite your tongue hard to keep from laughing" moments. Oh, it also followed a bit after Gary told her we aren't being mean, we want her to eat the broccoli so she'll be healthy, and she replied "But if it makes me throw up, that wouldn't be healthy either!") This week is April vacation in Massachusetts, since it's the week of Patriot's Day. Rowan and I both had today off, but for the rest of the week, I'll be working at home while she's vacationing. Color me jealous! On Thursday she's going to spend the day at grandma and Jim's since I have an appointment in the office, which will likely be an exciting change of pace. She's been re-reading her Harry Potter books over and over (and EVERY thing reminds her of something in Harry Potter), and she's walking around wearing the cape from her Halloween costume... she's obsessed! I've never seen it so bad before, I mean, she loved, loved, loved her American Girl books, but never to this level of attention to detail. I'm vacillating between finding this cute and somehow frightening. Oh, and hallelujah for the Internet, yet again. I had to do my taxes today (hey, shush, there's still another day left, I'm earlier than last year! Goodness, I used to be one of those people who did them in February), but there were two forms that somehow got misplaced when we rearranged the computer/desk area (because they were in Gary's stack of "important papers not to misplace" of course. Rather than go on some sort of rampage to find them, I took a deep breath and began investigating online. Sure enough, I was able to find all of the info I needed. Seriously, I can't even fathom trying to live as an adult without the Internet. How did you cope when you couldn't find the answer to almost every question, misunderstood lyric, stock performance, bank account balance, breaking news with a few keystrokes? How did the disorganized of the world ever get taxes done when you couldn't file online, print out duplicate forms online, talk with an IRS rep online?? Ah, well, it's late, I really just wanted to get the quotes down before they slip my mind. Goodness knows they will.