Focus, I have none

We're on Day 4 of 5 of Daddy being out of town so please excuse my babbling and lack of structure and organization. I have also pretty much stopped using my actual camera since my phone is so much easier and fits so much better in my purse. (And, truth be told, the memory card that I have in my camera is full and I'm way too lazy to delete pictures at the moment.)

So.

I take lots of pictures of Laura these days because she's a much more willing subject than her brother.

Sister loves her some spaghetti. As does her brother.

Conked out. The ten-minute ride to get Will at school is often too much for her.

Both of the kids are suddenly way into coloring. It's way nice and way more peaceful than some of the other things they've been way into.

Poor Will is seriously under-represented in my pictures here lately, isn't he?

In case you were wondering, this is what a ham hock looks like. I made pinto beans (soup beans for all my WV peeps) and cornbread for dinner last week and the recipe I used relied heavily on one for flavor.

This is what I fixed myself for lunch today. It's delicious and I highly recommend trying it. Top and tail some green beans (fancy speak for trim the ends), cut them approximately in half and steam them until they're to your liking. I like them fairly crisp. Mix some Dijon and mayo in a bowl, add the beans and mix all the deliciousness up. Sprinkle with sea salt (and I really think it must be actual sea salt instead of table salt, since it adds a nice crunch that table salt wouldn't). I bet you didn't think you'd be getting a recipe from me today, did you? (Well, not really a "recipe" but whatever.)

I received this catalog in the mail today. I'm still trying to figure out what we have bought at some point that placed us on this mailing list.

And finally, as bedtime is rapidly approaching, here is a picture of our bedroom, my very favorite room in our house. It's the Zen amid the chaos and I like it more and more the longer we live here. She's come a long way from her yellow striped wallpaper and wall-to-wall ugly carpet. See?

Well, that's all for now. It's supposed to be frigid tonight so our super cozy flannel sheets are calling my name.