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Plunging Into Spring Slash Summer Shemozzle; Dinners This Week; Are We Still Doing Easter Baskets

March 30, 2026 by Suzanne

Yesterday, I forced my cranky self to go for a walk in the spring air with my husband. As we were chatting, I mentioned that I felt like my head was SWIRLING with all the to-dos I have ahead of me, and he sagely suggested that I write them down. Well. Writing them down helps, but it does not STOP the swirling.

What also helps is to squawk and flap at you. I know you are either going through something similar, or you know exactly what it feels like, or you have kind and/or wise and/or distracting words.

Because I have a fondness for alliteration, especially in post titles, I was looking for a synonym for “chaos / pandemonium / overwhelm” that began with an S, and I came across the word “shemozzle.” The word itself is a little sillier than how I feel; there’s something about the “ozzle” that makes me want to giggle. Say “shemozzle” out loud, it’s delightful. That very silliness is what makes it perfect. I may feel on the knife’s edge of a panic attack, but I’m panicking about silly inconsequential stuff when the world at large is full of so many massive, significant events, and “shemozzle” helps me remember that.

The first and most uncomfortable shemozzle / source of shemozzle / I have no real idea how to use this word: SUMMER.

I have finally gotten my ass into gear and started thinking about summer camp, and summer feels really, really close, and I have next to zero things planned, and the whole thing stresses me right out. Also, I spent – no exaggeration – SIX HOURS this weekend trying to research camps and fit them into the calendar and talk through them with Carla. Which is all to say that I acknowledge the many privileges and a blessings of a life in which a) I have six hours to devote to summer camp research and b) the wealth of options available to me is so extensive and c) summer camp is neither a necessity nor a hardship.

Summer camp, of course, is all tangled up in summer travel plans. (Shemozzle Two.) My husband and I are apparently inhabiting one of those logic puzzles: Suzanne wants to be in X place for Y days, her husband wants to be in X place for Z days, their daughter needs to be picked up from camp on Day Z, and they have to cross a river in a leaky boat with a hungry shark. How can Suzanne be two places at once without losing a limb?

Plus, summer has a bunch of Unknown Factors that could influence things like Which Camp Is Best and Will Our Travel Plans Work for People Besides Us, and I don’t know when the Factors will become Known and airline tickets continue to climb and also Carla’s birthday is in there somewhere and she’s been through nearly a school year’s worth of bar and bat mitzvahs that have conveyed the idea that Thirteen Is a Seriously Important Birthday but I’m not sure what besides “getting a phone” (no) or “elaborate party and religious ceremony” (also no) meets her expectations of what a Seriously Important Birthday might involve. [Edited to add: NOTE OF CLARITY – I am not opposed to phones for people’s children. A phone is not right for my particular child at this particular time, but there are many excellent and valid reasons for kids to have phones at age thirteen or even younger.]

Listen, I am well accustomed to the turmoil of Pell-Mell May, but it is still March, if only for another day, and I AM NOT READY FOR THIS LEVEL OF SHEMOZZLE.

Shall we turn to another, more pressing issue? Which is that this is a holiday week, and I am hosting one of the week’s holidays and yet I somehow still have to also feed my family on the non-holiday days.

Dinners for the Week of March 30-April 5

  • Fire Fry: My husband requested this, and if someone else is going to suggest a meal, I’m going to make it. Doesn’t hurt that fire fry is delicious.
  • Ground Beef Tacos: It’s been a minute since we’ve had tacos around here, and I’m in the mood for a Taco Tuesday.
  • Sesame Ginger Stir Fry: I think I’m feeling brave enough to try making tofu again, and this recipe sounds like the perfect incentive to attempt it.

We’ve been invited to join family friends for a Passover Seder, so that’s another night I don’t have to think about. And then I’m hosting Easter dinner. I think I’ll make a pork loin with a warm farro and veggie salad on the side. My husband has requested a cake for dessert, and has narrowed down his cake desires to a coconut cake or a carrot cake. I have never made either, and I’m always up for a cake challenge. Do you have a preference? And, if so, do you have a favorite recipe for either?

Speaking of Easter… my kid is twelve… do I still need to do the whole Easter bunny/Easter basket thing? Just the idea of thinking about it is making me weary. Are we still hiding plastic eggs all over the house? Do we need to dye eggs? Surely we should have at least a small Easter basket, right? My husband has always insisted that Easter is not a gift-giving holiday, and yet… I’ve always striven to fill my kid’s Easter basket with as many non-candy items as I can, while still trying to make it fun and exciting.

I wonder if I could get away with filling up an Easter basket with practical things, like these cute jeans Carla wants, or a new skort, or a duffel bag. I bet she would love a variety pack of spring-ish earrings. She’s been more interested in cooking for herself lately, and I’ve been stressing about SPORTS SNACKS, so perhaps a cookbook would be both fun and useful? Books are always a good gift compromise – if only Rosanne Perry’s newest novel had already come out! Carla loved attending Jeopardy! as an audience member over spring break; maybe she would enjoy a book of Jeopardy! games, or a book of trivia, or maybe even this inside peek at the show? Of course, I am also eyeing fun and silly things for Carla’s Easter basket, like these hand-holding socks or these fingernail markers or a stuffed ostrich. My child does NOT need any more stuffed animals, but the ostrich is adorable… and you know what is MORE ADORABLE is this stuffed Pallas cat OMG I want it so much. Carla also loves the latest fidget toys – she was eyeballing this squishy stick of butter at a friend’s house. Oh my goodness, she would get such a kick out of this tic-tac-toe wall hanging. Okay, now I am getting carried away. Let’s save it for her birthday, Suzanne.

I suppose I can at the very least buy some candy the next time I go to the grocery store. And maybe I will consider buying a bag of bunny farts. Carla does love both cotton candy and fart jokes, so it seems like a guaranteed win.

Posted in Chief Complaint, day to day ridiculousness, Dinners This Week, Food, Holidays, Randomness | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 26 Comments »

Ants on a Log

March 19, 2026 by Suzanne

Once in a while, my kid goes through an “ants on a log” kick. In our house, “ants on a log” refers to a banana slathered with peanut butter and liberally sprinkled with chocolate chips.

I am willing to overlook the sugar in the chocolate chips in favor the protein and fat in the peanut butter and whatever nutrients a banana has; all I’m coming up with is potassium. (A deficiency in potassium, so I’ve heard all my life from potentially questionable sources, is the reason I sometimes get leg cramps. Let me tell you, I would rather wake up screaming in pain than eat a banana. My husband may feel differently, but so far he’s never smashed a banana into my shriek hole, so I think we’re okay.)

The hardest part of making my version of ants on a log is getting the peanut butter to adhere to the banana. That’s the main reason I switched from cutting the banana lengthwise down the center (which is also difficult; bananas tend to snap around their waistline) to cutting them into disks. Much easier to dollop peanut butter than to spread it, when you’re dealing with a sticky paste and a slippery fruit surface.

It’s also difficult to determine how many chocolate chips is The Right Amount. My daughter and I have wildly differing views on chocolate chip quantity. I would like to say that one chip per disk is enough; Carla would disagree. Did you know that there are approximately 2.5 million ants per human on the earth? That fact makes it sound like a couple million ants are born every time a human appears in a delivery room, but you get the idea. Anyway, my daughter would appreciate that kind of ant-to-human ratio for her ants on a log. Whether we’re talking about insects or chocolate chips, that’s way too many ants.

When I was a kid, “ants on a log” was a horrific combination of celery, peanut butter, and raisins. I do like celery, but I don’t like peanut butter and I abhor raisins, nearly as much as I abhor bananas. Also, if I stop to think about it for more than two seconds, it’s pretty gross to offer children “ants on a log” as a snack. Who wants to eat a log, whether or not it has delicious ants crawling all over it? I mean, xylophages, but as far as I know humans are not xylophagous.

Other important ants-on-a-log questions: What in nature is the peanut butter supposed to represent in this scenario? Who decided this would be a great name for a snack? Whether or not it’s appealing or depicts nature in an accurate way, it’s sure managed to insert itself into American culture.

Now I’m curious about my non-American friends, and whether ants on a log is a thing in your neck of the woods. If not, is there a similar snack food? And, if so, what is it called?

If I’m eating celery – and I do enjoy a celery snack – I’m eating it with ranch dressing or cottage cheese. NOT peanut butter. My mom likes to make “rabbit food” every afternoon around three, which is some combination of celery, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, cucumber, and bell peppers with a little ranch on the side. I don’t know that rabbits eat celery in the wild, but I do delight in envisioning myself as a little bunny nibbling my way through a garden, rather than as a middle-aged human using sliced veggies as a conveyance for absurd quantities of ranch dressing.

While I enjoy the rabbit food, and have tried with middling success to incorporate it into my own home routine, I have fond memories of an altogether different pre-dinner snack when I was growing up. My mother would melt cubes of Velveeta together with some salsa until it was a creamy, spicy puddle, and then we’d use tortilla chips to scrape up every last molten morsel. She called this “chips and dip.” Occasionally since reaching adulthood, I have tried to recreate this snack. I have found that Velveeta is its creamy, delicious best in my memory.

Some snacks are so delicious that they transcend time. Some even appear, fully formed, in the mind of a child without her mother ever mentioning them to her. Specifically, my teenage obsession with microwaved pepperoni. There was nothing like crispy pepperoni, still sizzling in a sheen of its own fat, dipped into yellow mustard. My own child discovered this delicacy on her own – sans mustard – and only my husband’s dismay at a microwave and kitchen smelling like fried pepperoni keeps her from eating this snack on the regular.

She does, once in a while, crisp up some pepperoni and add it to her scrambled eggs. In which case, I overlook all the concerning aspects of delicious, delicious pepperoni and focus only on the high protein goodness of scrambled eggs and the joy of a child who can make herself food.

If ants are going to make a log more delicious, let’s add some ants.

Posted in day to day ridiculousness, Food, Memories, Parenthood | Tagged , , , , , | 34 Comments »

Dinners This Week

March 16, 2026 by Suzanne

My taste buds are longing for spring food – Asparagus soup! Pasta primavera! Salads with fresh berries! But the weather is still insisting it is WINTER. And I do tend to appreciate a hearty bowl of something saucy and warming when outdoor temperatures remain in the freezing range. This is making meal planning challenging, is what I’m saying. As if it needs to be any harder than it already is!

By the way, we still have not eaten the chicken paprikas I planned to make two weeks ago. Thank goodness potatoes last so long!

Dinners for the Week of March 16-22

  • Thai Style Steak and Noodle Salad: A lovely friend took me to lunch for my birthday, and she got a steak and noodle salad that I have not been able to stop thinking about. Surely I can recreate it at home?!

Three planned meals a week is feeling like the right number these days. And, of course, we still have the chicken paprikas ingredients in case I want to make a cozy from-scratch meal on a whim.

Posted in Dinners This Week | Tagged , , , , , , | 10 Comments »

Five for Friday

March 13, 2026 by Suzanne

I am so scattered lately. So. Scattered. Is it the time change? Is it perimenopause? Am I experiencing the early signs of dementia? WHO KNOWS.

*sob*

Keeping Track of Things You Need to Do: This feels like the dumbest question ever (and yet I feel like I have asked the same or a very similar question before, which… well, it says a lot), but I am 100% serious: How do you keep track of things you need to do?

Back in the middle ages of 2005 or so, I kept a physical planner. At least, I’m pretty sure I did; I remember buying extra pages to insert into the planner. I am assuming that’s how I kept on top of tasks and meetings etc. When I worked in an office, everyone used Outlook to keep track of those things. I have a dim recollection of getting a little pop-up notification on my screen five minutes before my next meeting. For years now, I’ve been keeping all my appointments and things in my phone’s calendar. But more and more often, I find that I’m straight up MISSING things. I failed to show up for a doctor’s appointment last fall, which is super embarrassing, in large part because my husband finds it SO frustrating when people fail to show up for appointments with him. I have been *sure* that I already had appointments on my calendar, only to find that I had never scheduled them. The other day, I was supposed to attend an informational meeting and, even though I rescheduled plans because of it, and even though my entire family was aware I needed to attend this meeting, I forgot about it completely. If I make any tiny deviation in my normal morning routine, I will forget critical necessities for myself and family members. Let me tell you, I feel like I am losing my mind.

One thing that has helped, slightly, is for me to program multiple “alerts” into each calendar entry. So if I have a hair appointment, I put in an alert for a week prior to the appointment, then for a day prior to the appointment, and finally, for an hour prior to the appointment. This seems to do the trick. But, and this is CRUCIAL, it only works if I remember to program the alerts, which I apparently did not do for the recent informational meeting.

I don’t know why the second alert comes before the alert; it works out the way it should.

I am pretty sure I complained in recent months on this very blog about forgetting to take my regular daily medications, and I resolved that by a) taking everything at one time instead of some in the morning and some at night, and b) programming a recurring alarm into my phone, with the title “Take medication.” I suppose I could do that with lots of things, but also I am wary of having too many alarms. That seems like it will become quickly and counterproductively overwhelming.

I have spent way too much time thinking, plaintively, “But I used to be able to just remember things!” For whatever horrifying or normal reason, I can no longer count on “just remembering things.” What I *do* need to do is find a system, because I am tired of and irritated about feeling like a flaky dumbass so often.

Good Chips: It’s no secret around here that I love me some tortilla chips. My kid loves plain old Tostitos, but they have become prohibitively expensive over the past six to twelve months. I only ever buy tortilla chips if they are on sale or if I happen to be at Trader Joe’s when I am in need of tortilla chips. This restriction is how I discovered these chips; they were on sale at my local grocery store. And they are SO GOOD. Flaky and crunchy and light. Good flavor, good salt level. They taste pretty darn close to the handmade tortilla chips you get at a Mexican restaurant.

Workout Workaround: A few months ago, I strained my forearm. It has been painful ever since, and hurts even when I use that hand to lift something light, like a carton of yogurt. This means that I haven’t been able to lift weights, even though strength training is my preferred method of exercise. I tried resting the arm, I tried stretching it, I tried whining about it anyone who would listen. Nothing worked. But then I found this video with some specific massages and exercises for forearm pain. I wouldn’t say it’s fully resolved the pain, but it has helped SO MUCH. I have also decided that I can’t just never lift weights again. But instead of doing a few reps of heavy weights, I decided to seek out some workout videos featuring high reps of small weights. This one is my favorite so far. Some of the exercises strain my arm even with my lightest weight (5 pounds / 2.27 kg), so when I encounter one of those, I use no weight at all. I have been pleased with how sweaty I get during these workouts and by how shaky my arms and legs and abs get by the end of the video.

Summer Stripes: We have reached the portion of the year where I am longing for an all new wardrobe of spring and summer clothing. Not that the weather is cooperating; I went for a walk with a friend yesterday and had to wear gloves and my winter coat, and for the first half of our time together I was kicking myself for not bringing a hat and scarf as well. But the heart wants what it wants.

Currently, my heart is fixated on summer weight pants with a vertical stripe. I have tried buying several pairs of pants of this nature, but nothing – so far – has stuck. First of all, these pants sold out after I’d ordered them, but before I received them. Boo. They seem perfect. I am on the fence about these jeans. On the one hand, they are cute enough. On the other hand, they are jeans and I really wanted something light and breezy. On the other other hand, they are light and I feel like light colors emphasize the wrong parts of my body. These pants are cute in theory but look terrible on my actual body. These pants are pretty cute, and I like the material, which is silky. But they are black and I really want blue pants. Maybe I will order these.

The main problem with these pants of my heart, aside from them not looking great on me, is that I am now struggling to differentiate them from pajamas. I don’t really want to look as though I’m gallivanting about the world in pajamas.

Obligatory Cat Photo: My cat is weird and adorable.

He likes to hang out like this. Perfectly normal way to use the stairs.

Posted in Chief Complaint, day to day ridiculousness, The Great Unknowable Future | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 31 Comments »

Dinners This Week

March 9, 2026 by Suzanne

What makes meal planning even MORE fun? Meal planning when you have a brand new afterschool activity to adjust to, and a time change to adjust to, and semi-surprise houseguests!

Dinners for the Week of March 8-15

  • Oven Roasted Chicken Shawarma: I often feel like I need to come up with something new! and different! for people who’ve eaten at my table before. Well, I don’t think I’ve served this to guests before. I plan to serve it with broccoli and couscous, which are my favorite accompaniments.
  • Slow Cooker BBQ Pulled Pork with Coleslaw: And then again, sometimes I just make things we’ve all had so many times we’re well and sick of them. But I NEED a crockpot meal one night this week, and this one is easy, and we haven’t had it in awhile. Maybe I’ll grab some green beans to amp up the veggie quotient?
  • Balsamic Chicken and Mushrooms: Not quite sure what to serve with this one. Maybe some asparagus?

Yes, I realize this is only three meals. But we didn’t eat the chicken paprikas last week, so that’s up for grabs again this week. And we’re going out for dinner one night. And I am hoping we have at least SOME leftovers.

What are you eating this week?

Posted in Dinners This Week | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 37 Comments »

Dinners This Week, Semi-Annual Breakfast Fret

March 2, 2026 by Suzanne

Well hello there, we have apparently reached the time of year when I have small freak-out about breakfast. Join me, won’t you?

The issue, in a nutshell, is that I continue to need quick weekday breakfast options for my child. Ideally, they would be portable and at least semi-nutritious. This is Quite Challenging, because a lot of breakfast foods do not appeal to my kid. I am and have always been a Very Picky Eater, so I get it; it’s not always a matter of “just eat it because it’s good for you.” Sometimes the preferable option to a food you don’t like is simply not eating. As a Very Picky Eater, I understand. As a Tends-Toward-Fretful Mother, I want my child to fuel her body before school.

The bacon and egg sandwiches I mentioned here are fine, but they are not an everyday desire. The French toast muffins I mentioned in the same post were fine, but I think Carla got sick of them. However, muffins do seem to be a well-received mechanism for delivering calories and (modest) nourishment to my child, so I think I’m going to make some apple cinnamon muffins and some pumpkin cream cheese muffins in the hopes that they do the trick.

Speaking of calories and nourishment, I haven’t done a great job of planning meals this year. I am, however, less great at winging it. So let’s get back to meal planning, at least for today.

Dinners for the Week of March 2-8

  • Slow Cooker Korean BBQ Chicken: I am in need of some slow cooker meals this week, and this sounds yummy. I’m using breasts instead of drumsticks, and I’ll shred the chicken and use it to make some rice bowls.
  • Lemony Garlic Butter Shrimp Orzo: My husband and daughter got me a new cookbook for my birthday, and I love it. It has many, many recipes I would love to make and eat, including this one. My husband doesn’t normally care that much for shrimp, but he said he’d be happy to try any recipe from the book and I’m taking him at his word.
  • Ramen: My daughter is into ramen lately, and I like ramen well enough. My favorite way to make it is with shrimp and edamame, but my husband would prefer chicken. Hopefully we’ll have leftover Korean BBQ chicken he can add to it.
  • Chicken Paprikas: This meal doesn’t necessarily scream “spring is on the way,” but it’s tasty, simple to make, and usually produces enough leftovers for another meal.

What are you making for dinner this week?

Posted in Chief Complaint, day to day ridiculousness, Dinners This Week, Motherhood, the kid, Worries | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 16 Comments »

Seven for Sunday

March 1, 2026 by Suzanne

It is now somehow March. With a new month, apparently, come new and disturbing things to occupy our collective attention.

I am extremely thankful that February has had, as its companion, Elisabeth’s latest exercise in finding gratitude each day. It has been a gift to feel obligated to focus my mind on the big and little joys that surround me. Thank you so much, Elisabeth, for leading this practice in tracking the glimmers of light even on dark days.

This past week was a birthday week, and since many of the things that made this week’s gratitude list are birthday-related, I’m going to deviate from how I’ve tracked them. Instead of going day by day, I’m just going to make a big list.

  • Sunshine!: We’ve had more sunshine than not this week, and I’ve loved it! Spring feels like it is trying extra hard to burst forth into our lives and I appreciate the effort.
This is a photo from a few weeks ago because somehow I didn’t take a single outdoor photo all week.
  • Lunch with Mom and Dad: I got to go out to lunch with my parents, which is always so lovely. Having them nearby is something I do not take for granted, and I am so glad they enjoy my company as much as I enjoy theirs. After lunch, my mom and I went for a little stroll in the sunshine. Wonderful.
  • Baking Projects: I did a bunch of baking this week, which is always enjoyable. My attempt at lemon bars was a bit of a flop (I forgot the salt entirely and then I’m pretty sure I underbaked the crust), but! I did make a delicious loaf of perfect sandwich bread from scratch. And I transformed a pair of extremely past-their-prime bananas into a snack cake that my kid and her friend gobbled right up.
  • Sleepover: The kids were off school on Friday again (don’t want them to have too many five-day weeks!), so my kiddo had one of her closest friends stay the night. We went out to dinner, then grabbed ice cream, and the girls had a wild time watching movies and giggling and staying up way too late. Even though the noise grates on me, I am so grateful that my daughter has this friendship in her life.
  • Birthday Cat: My kitty turned one, and it was fun to celebrate him. He brings me more joy than I ever could have imagined, and I am grateful for him every day.
Such a distinguished gentleman.
  • Checking Off an Onerous Task: My car was due for a checkup, which I *hate* doing, for so many reasons. The experience was comically awful, but now it’s DONE, and I don’t have to get a checkup for a long time!
  • Long Distance Love: I got so many cards and texts and phone calls for my birthday, it was staggering. I feel so very lucky to have so many wonderful, kind, caring people in my life.
  • Mexican Food and Margaritas: My husband wanted to know if he should make reservations at a steak house for my birthday, but you know what? I wanted mediocre Mexican takeout and margaritas from a bottle. That’s what I got and hoo boy, was delicious.
  • Flowers!: My back-home best friend sent me the most gorgeous bouquet of flowers!!!! Lenny of course had to inspect them (and taste a leaf immediately, which is why I can only buy cat-safe foliage; he threw it up later which was super fun for all of us) before I moved them to one of the few cat-safe spaces in our home.
  • Call Week Perspective: Call weeks remind me how grateful I am for all the weeks my husband is not on call.
  • Tea!: My parents gave me an extremely generous check to use on something frivolous, which I am looking forward to spending. Since my mom likes to have something for me to unwrap, she also gave me two tins of looseleaf tea that sound fun and delicious, and a little tea strainer that looks like a leaf!
  • Clean Sheets: While my kid and her friend slept in, I laundered all the bedding. I just LOVE slipping into a fresh, clean bed at night. It’s a small thing, but it brings me pleasure.
  • Books!: My husband got me a stack of great books to read, along with a couple of other gifts. He knows me so well; these books all sound fabulous and I can’t wait to dive in.

  • Surgical Success: A beloved family member had surgery this week, and – even though we don’t yet have the results – the procedure itself went smoothly and the family member is doing great.
  • Yoga Nudge: Julie has invited everyone in blogland to join her, virtually, for yoga practice every Saturday. I finally got my rear in gear and managed to do this video – which was all about slow, intentional poses with lots of deep breathing and mindful exploration of gratitude. I hated every minute of it. But, as with many things that are both difficult and worthwhile, I am so glad I stuck with it. Forcing myself to slow down, mentally and physically, is something I struggle to do, and long after the video ended I was enveloped in a sense of serene calm. Oh right; this is why we’re supposed to try things that we don’t normally do, and to push outside our comfort zones once in awhile. I am grateful for that reminder, and grateful to Julie for facilitating it!
  • Long Distance Friends, Again: On my birthday, I got a call from a friend I haven’t seen in seven years. This is one of my favorite people in the world, and I really don’t know why we lost touch – I want to blame children and careers and time zones, but I really need to just look harder at how I can make connecting with him more of a priority. Anyway, he called me and asked where I was, and I told him. Since it was kind of an odd question, I asked where he was, figuring he was in Europe or on a ski hill somewhere. But no, he was IN MY TOWN. He ended up coming over for dinner that night and spending time reminiscing with me and my husband and catching us up on what’s been going on since we last saw him. It was so incredibly special, and I don’t think I can adequately express how grateful I am that we were able to get together.
  • New Rug: We finally finally ordered a new rug to replace the IKEA rug that’s been under our kitchen table for fourteen years. For the most part, I still like it. But it has become a tripping hazard and Lenny likes to hide hair ties underneath it, which is making the problem worse. We haven’t managed to remove the new rug from its package yet (see above re: Call week), but it’s HERE and I’m excited!
  • Forty-Five: Even though forty-five feels startlingly old, somehow, I am grateful for this birthday and for every birthday I get to have. Growing older is, a lot of the time, a pain in the ass, but above all, it is a gift.
The thick envelope on top of the yellow package contains my colonoscopy instructions. Woot.

Many thanks to Elisabeth for leading another month of the FIG Collective.

Posted in day to day ridiculousness, Thankful Thursdays, The Kitty, Things That Rock | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 17 Comments »

Cat Questions

February 27, 2026 by Suzanne

Did you know that my tiny baby kitten is now an enormous ADULT CAT?


Because he is a fancy hypoallergenic purebred cat, we know the exact date of his birthday, and it was this past week.

We got him a hat and a bandana, neither of which he enjoyed. But he seems to feel quite dapper in the bowtie.

We got him a present. He LOVES it.

In his honor, I thought I would devote a post to some pressing cat questions. Questions that you have asked about this particular cat, and questions I have about cat parenting.

Is this cat’s name Lenny or Leo?

The answer to this question is yes. Okay, that’s not helpful. The real answer is, his name is Leo in my household and at the vet, but his name is Lenny in my heart. I lobbied so hard to call him Lenny, but I was overruled by my husband and child. Thus, he goes by Leo at home (Or Leo-cat. Or Mr. Fluffy Pants.). But I feel so much glee that so many blog readers continue to refer to him as Lenny.  It is a delight that my much-longed-for name persists here in the digital world. Julie, in particular, reminds me that she thinks of Lenny Kravitz, and that brings me a lot of joy because I am pretty my cat thinks that his human form would bear strong resemblance to this:

In my opinion, he often shares more similarities with this other beloved if fictional Lenny:

Do you really bathe your cat?

I have mentioned several times that I bathe my cat, and this is often met with perplexity. Cats are, after all, self-cleaning. My cat demonstrates his own personal grooming activities multiple times per day, sometimes in a slightly insulting manner right after one of us has pet him.

Nonetheless, I bathe him approximately once a month, using water and original Dawn. I do this for three reasons, in no particular priority: 1. To get/keep him accustomed to being bathed, so that it isn’t traumatic to either of us. 2. To address occasional hygienic issues that affect the pantaloons area. 3. To manage the tendency of his fur to become, over time, slightly greasy – a result of his diet or, more likely, the incessant petting by hands that may or may not have food residue on them.

I used to bathe him in the bathtub, but it hurts my back. So I have begun to give him a shower. He doesn’t seem to mind the water. I hold him and the only time he seems slightly perturbed is when I lather him. He lets me know he is perturbed by gently increasing his grip on my shoulders and mewing plaintively a few times.

He is obsessed with the shower. Loves to get in it, loves to catch drips from the shower head, loves to lie outside of it on the bath math, loves to chase water droplets on the shower doors.


I blow dry him with a hair dryer that I prop up on books and point at where I am holding him on my lap and combing him. He seems to enjoy that part of the process. This system works, but it’s not ideal. Sometimes I daydream about getting a fancy pet blow dryer, like this one. There’s also this drying box that is WAY too expensive but that doesn’t stop me from looking at it. This one is more in my price range, and it’s also a brush.

Now I have some questions for you.

Where does all the FUR come from?

Lenny is a Siberian, and he has luxurious medium-length fur. I brush him at least once daily. AT LEAST ONCE. I vacuum at least once daily as well. And yet, every time I turn around, or every time the cat moves from one location to another, a tumbleweed of fur trundles lackadaisically across the floor. HOW? And also WHY?

The cat breeder warned me that Lenny would have two shedding seasons each year: spring and then fall. So far, neither season has ended. Shedding season appears to take place all year long. I do not like it.

Is there a special brush I should be using? I have two combs and this brush (which Leo does not like) and there are too many options for me to choose from; I find it overwhelming.

How much should I be feeding the cat?

As a reader of this blog, you are well aware of how much I fret about feeding my human child, right? Well, I worry about the cat’s food intake EVEN MORE. I find the entire feeding situation completely impossible. Everything I read (and also the cat breeder) said that we should give our cat both wet and dry food. Wet because his breed and/or sex has a propensity for developing crystals in the urinary tract, which can be dangerous and potentially fatal; the extra moisture in the wet food helps ensure he stays hydrated, which is one way to prevent the crystals from forming. Dry because it can help his teeth stay strong, and also because you can leave dry food out longer than you can the wet food.

Severely malnourished and also STARVING.


All the food containers say how much you should be giving your cat. There are tons of websites that offer guidance about how many calories a cat should consume, based on age and weight and indoor/outdoor status. And yet I still feel like I have NO IDEA. Sometimes he will scarf down a whole can of food. Other times he will barely nibble at it. Some days I go to refill his dry food and it’s all gone, other days he has hardly touched it. Sometimes he shows a clear preference for one flavor of cat food over another. Other days, he will turn up his nose at his favorite flavor or gobble up the entire plate of his least preferred flavor. He seems to have regular bathroom habits. He seems to be active and happy. He seems to be a fine weight and shape. Is he getting enough calories or not? Is he malnourished? Is he overweight? Does he need more flavor variety? Does he need less flavor variety? Am I leaving out too much dry food?

What do cat owners REALLY DO about the litter box?

The litter we use says 1) fill clean, dry litter box with 3” to 4” of litter; 2) scoop waste twice daily and refill box as necessary; and 3) replace entire box once a month. The litter website also says that we should replace the entire litter box every six to twelve months.

Is this what we’re doing, cat owners? Are we cleaning out and replacing all the litter every month? Are we replacing the entire litter box every six to twelve months, and, if so, is that only plastic litter boxes (which is what we have) or does that apply to stainless steel ones as well? I “scooped waste twice daily” for the first couple of months, but the cat tends to fulfill the majority of his litter box needs at night, so it seemed pointless and now I do it once a day.

WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?

My particular cat has not been very vocal. His mews have been few and far between. The most regular vocalization he has is when he welcomes us home. He sits on the kitchen side of the closed laundry room door and when we open it, he stretches and greets us with a little “mrmrmr!” Although… he does seem to be exercising his voice more frequently now that he’s getting older. It’s still rare enough, though, that any time he mews, his humans will react with extreme sympathy: “What buddy? What is it? Are you okay?” Sometimes it seems like he’s asking where we are. Sometimes it seems like he’s expressing a complaint. But most of the time, I have no idea what he’s trying to tell me.

What I am trying to tell you is of UTMOST IMPORTANCE.

Is this like having a human child, who starts out with grunts and then moves on to babbling and then to words or word-stand-ins? Will I eventually understand exactly what he wants, or are we always destined to stare uncomprehendingly into one another’s eyes?

Why are your pants so fluffy?!?!

A question for the ages.

I really hope you have some answers, Internet. But please share any cat questions – about my specific cat or cats in general – as well. I certainly won’t be able to answer an of them, but I would of course fret easily about any and all things that haven’t yet caught my attention.

Posted in day to day ridiculousness, The Kitty | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 45 Comments »

Seven for Sunday

February 22, 2026 by Suzanne

Thank goodness for Elisabeth: her F.I.G. Collective project is not only keeping my brain primed to find things to be grateful for this month, but getting me to blog when I feel completely sapped of post ideas.

Here are seven things I’ve been especially thankful for over the past week.

Sunday, February 15: Carla has the day off tomorrow (for President’s Day), so the three of us plus my parents left town for a mini ski getaway. We had great snow, great weather, and a lot of fun. I adore skiing, and I am so grateful to be able to do something I love, with the people I love.

The morning started out foggy but the snow was perfect and no one was there!

Monday, February 16: The grocery store still has a TON of beautiful Valentine’s Day floral arrangements – and they’re all half off! I snapped up this cute little planter.

Tuesday, February 17: Even though we hire a cat sitter to come take care of the kitty twice a day while we’re out of town, he acts as though we have abandoned him for years to fend for himself. He demonstrates his relief at our return through days of intense and unending purrs and Velcro-ing himself to our sides, and I’m not going lie: I love it.

Who knew purring could be so accusatory?

Wednesday, February 18: Guess what arrived in the mail today?!?! What a thrill to be able to experience Nicole’s writing in book form, and to have my own copy of her first novel for my home library.

Thursday, February 19: I had my annual physical with my doctor today. I am grateful that all my labs are normal. I am also grateful that my doctor listens to me and that she was happy to refill prescriptions and submit orders for my first ever colonoscopy. Am I looking forward to this procedure? Hell no. But I have a family history of colon cancer and I am grateful that I’ll be able to get some insights into my intestinal health.

I really would like to decline, but I am NOT GOING TO.

Friday, February 20: For the first time in A WEEK, I sleep through the entire night without waking up. I have been seeing many of the wee hours of the morning lately, and when I’m in a spate of poor sleep it’s easy to feel like it will always be that way. I’m so thankful that I am still capable of sleeping six hours in a row.

Saturday, February 21: Today is the bat mitzvah of a family friend, and it was such a joy to witness her confidence and satisfaction as she led the service in Hebrew. I’ve known this kiddo for more than half a decade now, and as I watched her recite the Torah portion of the service, I could see her little second-grade face superimposed over the face of the beautiful young woman she’s become. Being able to watch Carla grow up and into herself is, of course, such a gift, but I am surprised by how moving it is to watch her friends grow up alongside her. The entire day was joyful and celebratory and I am so thankful to have been part of it.

The cat is wondering why I am using him as a prop.

That’s all I’ve got for you today, Internet. Snow is falling quietly, the cat is waiting for me to play with him, my family is still asleep. I hope you found many things that filled your heart with gratitude and joy this week, and that the week ahead is similarly full.

Posted in day to day ridiculousness, General Health, Thankful Thursdays, Things That Rock | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 24 Comments »

Seven for Sunday

February 15, 2026 by Suzanne

It’s time for another week’s worth of gratitude, led by Elisabeth as part of this month’s F.I.G. Collective.

Sunday, February 8: I made these apple crisp bars on a whim, and they were SO GOOD. Easy to make, delicious, and they reheat exceptionally well.

Monday, February 9: GUESS WHAT?! My treadmill has magically healed itself!!!! My husband came home last week and took the treadmill apart, trying to fix it. To no avail. Then he and our child and I researched treadmills all weekend and even went to a big box store to try out the most likely candidate. Then, for some reason, he decided to plug in our existing treadmill one more time, and it WORKED. (We think that it may never have been broken; instead, we may have accidentally removed the emergency stop key, which makes me feel like a Grade A Dumbass, but whatever.)

He’s blurry because he’s exercising.

Tuesday, February 10: The temperature SOARED to 40 degrees F (5 degrees C) today! I took a walk outside and I wasn’t the least bit chilly. The SUN was out. It was magnificent!

Even the clouds are shocked that the sun is out and the temperature is above freezing!

Wednesday, February 11: YOU GUYS. I went to the post office to mail a couple of books to some out-of-state friends, and I decided to ask whether my mail carrier might have accidentally removed a package from my mailbox. The postal clerk was very friendly about it, and said she would find my mail carrier… at which point I fretted and fretted about how it sounded like I was accusing my mail carrier of stealing my package. My normal mail carrier was out, so the substitute came over and I explained my issue to him. He said that Amazon isn’t supposed to put packaged in mail boxes (did you know that?!) and that the post office had a storage locker where they kept Amazon and FedEx and other non-USPS packages that they would simply send back to the shipping companies, and he would check the locker for me. So he did, AND HE FOUND MY TEA!

Thursday, February 12: Usually I drink a smoothie (made with high protein yogurt and high protein milk) for breakfast, but sometimes I opt for sourdough toast with butter instead. No regrets.

Screenshot
Yes, I am aware I apply way too much butter to my toast. I like it like that.

Friday, February 13: Carla mentioned recently that she was hoping to find a necklace that matched her favorite earrings, similar to this one. She told me that she’d seen the exact necklace that she wanted – and had taken a photo of it. Well, I looked back in my photos and she took the picture in September of 2025. So I was pretty sure the store would no longer have the same necklace in stock. But I went while she was in school and, lo and behold, the necklace was there! And it was only $6.99. What an easy way to make her Valentine’s Day a little more fun and special, right?

This is the best of four photos Carla took of this necklace.

Saturday, February 14: Family movie night! We borrowed Psycho a week or so ago from the library. I have never seen the movie before, even though I know the general idea. And reading Birchie’s Hitchcock rewatch recaps has piqued my interest about trying some classic Hitchcock movies… plus, my husband and I watched Monster: The Ed Gein Story, the subject of which helped inspire Psycho, which edged up my interest a little more. (I would not necessarily recommend this series. It was riveting and fascinating and horrifying, but also felt problematic in a way I’m not sure how to pinpoint.) (Also, there are a few scenes in Monster: The Ed Gein Story that depict the audience reaction to Psycho in the theaters, and I am always interested, if a little wary, of watching something that causes people to vomit, faint, and run out of the theater.) The three of us watched Psycho and I will admit that I may have dozed off a little bit at one point, but mainly we had a blast making fun of the characters. Horror movies have come a long ways since Psycho hit theaters, and all three of us – yes, even Carla – have a much higher tolerance for gore and terror than 1960s moviegoers.

I obviously had to text Birchie immediately when we checked this one out.

That’s all I have for you today, Internet! I hope you’ve found many joyful moments in your days lately.

Posted in day to day ridiculousness, Thankful Thursdays | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 26 Comments »

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