I know I'm nearly cribbing from the very polarizing Martha Stewart with this post title (personally, I drool over her mag at the library when I get the chance...domesticity porn), but I can't think of anything more clever or creative moment, and given that it's M.'s nap time, I don't dare spend too long trying. I sometimes marvel at the fact that my life these days is more sedate, predictable and geographically confined than it's ever been: I seldom leave my very quiet, residential neighbourhood and divide most of my time between home, several parks in the neighbourhood, the local library and a few shops. While I do sometimes crave a little more variety and freedom, overall I'm more content than I've ever been with my very simple existence. To whit, I've curated a list of some of the things that have made me happy this week.
1. Playing soccer by the Lachine canal with the boy. It's so breezy, green and peaceful up there, with water on one side and bike paths on the other. And my little one running with boundless energy, chirping 'ba! ba! ba!' as he chases his ball. Balls and dolls - his two favourite things, and a nice balance I think.
2. My mother's day gift: a Kitchenaid mixer. WHAT!? I thought I'd be an old lady before I could afford one of these glorious machines, but Mr. L has been squirelling away his credit card points for years and actually had enough to get my beauteous new mixer without spending a penny. (Let us not speak of interest rates at such a magical time.) I confess I haven't even had a chance to use it, but visions of cookies and bread and super easy pie crusts dance in my head.
3. Wolf Hall I'm doing my best to keep my eyes pried open for half an hour before bed to do some reading (have I complained recently about how M. still wakes up several times a night?) Currently, I'm reading Hilary Mantel's novel about Thomas Cromwell and the many machinations of Henry the VIII. Beautiful writing and a page-turning story. Delicious.
4. The Culture Gabfest podcast on Slate.com. I read about this on my friend Tom's blog and now I'm hooked. A trio of hyper verbal, witty, erudite culture critics/ writers deconstruct books, TV shows, movies, poetry and news coverage and are so freakishly smart and funny about it that they manage to find interesting things to say about even the most banal of topics (eg. Titanic, celebrity baby bumps). And there appear to be many other great podcats on Slate, such as Double X and Lexicon Valley ( a whole show about words). There are not enough hours in the day.
5. My new pressure cooker. I know - another appliance. Do I sound like a crazed, McCarthy-era housewife? But it really is an amazing thing if you're vegetarian, or simply like beans. It makes the most tender, delicious beans in under half an hour and this is miraculous after many years of boiling the crap out of beans only to have them come out...edible. I've heard from a real Italian that you can make perfect risotto in seven minutes, which I find almost too good to be true but I'm going to try it this weekend.
6. Revenge. Well, perhaps not a fine thing, but a deeply satisfying guilty pleasure. It's got very rich people, very vengeful people, very bad people. It's got beautiful women kicking ass (literally). Everyone is always impeccably dressed, shooting death stares at their various enemies and being super fake, rich-style, while they plot to destroy one another. There's a moral centre, of course, but that's besides the point. It's terribly silly and I love it.
