it's better today, kinda...

well, the dishes are done, most of the laundry is cleaned and put away thanks to Joe's helpfulness this morning.  Unfortunately the brakes on our car did something bad last nite while Joe was coming back from his nite with the boys.  No accidents or anything, but he's at Sears right now attempting to get them fixed.  Bub is at grandma's, and Zber is chillin w/ me, half watching TV and half playing w/ sidewalk chalk.  (alright...really she's kinda EATING the chalk everytime I turn my back....guess I'll be getting out some miralax for her tonight to counter the extra Ca2...puff)


I made Yabluchnyk this morning (Ukrainian Apple Cake), and we have 3 pieces left.  Bub kept sneaking off w/ apple slices while I was doing all the prep work.  I discovered that my egg-cutter also is wonderful for slicing peeled apples into uniform slices...and that Bub is able to help me cut apples now w/o my having to worry if he will slice off his fingers.  Yayee, one more thing I can let Bub help me with in the kitchen!!!

Little Kitty Masquerade and Zber tussle like puppies, and Bub gets concerned/jealous of/for Zber and splits them up which ends in massive Zber crying.  I tell Joe that I have no idea how he does it every day and that YES I WILL get him a membership to the fitness center associated w/ my new job....esp since it has free day-care while you work out and they have no issues/limitations with us bringing our son w/ non-verbal autism.  well...at this time they have no issues with it....that may change after a few times we visit with him....sigh,


Must dash.  Nubs all today.  :)

"That's it...no more Christmas cards for you"

I got home from church and wrote a really bitter hurting blog about a passive-aggressive coward I sorta encountered (they were passive-aggressive...so it wasn't a REAL encounter...just a sorta encounter). Then I saved it into my edit posts and didn't publish it because I felt that in doing so I would be a passive-aggressive coward.  I don't want to be that.  I would like to hope that if I have to say something to someone, I would say it to their face and not hide behind my blog hoping they get it.  I would also hope that I am a big enough person that I could let this go without needing to take a trip to my friendly family doctor to see about getting a Rx to a friendly anti-anxiety pill....but the anxiety and anger and pissiness increases 10fold each week I have a sorta encounter with this person.  I haven't made it a real encounter yet because I don't quite trust myself not to say something mean, cruel, ugly and hateful.  So I do what I always do when I feel this way.  I shut the eff up.and I nod and smile.  and my friends ask me why I'm not getting that friendly Rx for an anti-anxiety pill.

after a while I talked to my Dad.  Now my Dad is the OPPOSITE of passive-aggressive. He "brags" about scaring the crap out of a coworker that called him a "damn Russian" back in the 60s   (although he denies it mostly...he's more proud about being Ukrainian than he lets on...)  and fortunately/unfortunately I take after my Dad, especially in temperament and personality. getting his take helped, although I had to explain to my Dad the equivalent  to him of my complaint would be like people who stop sending him Christmas cards one year and never send them again.  He laughed at that.  That I can make my Dad laugh while I'm all pissy and mad did help me cheer a bit.  but then, Dad and I do best when we sally at each other in mock arguments.  lol.  Mom hates that.  we're shouting and yelling at each other and we mean "I love you" and understand it back from the other.  She gets it, but she doesn't like it.  I don't do that with Mom, just Dad.  Don't even do it with Joe.  When me and Dad start, Joe goes and hides in the corner with Mom and drinks tea with her while she plies him with cookies.  Joe's awesome.  So's Mom.

At least I got to spend some time with my mother in law at church this morning.  That was the only good thing I got out of it this week.  :(

holiday confessions

I have a sad little known fact about me.  I am not a holiday person.  I really don't like going to all the fuss of making holiday dishes, decorations, events because of a day on the calendar.  If I want to make something, I'll make it regardless of the time of year.  However Easter is the exception.  I do enjoy Easter and the prep work.  I don't do the easter bunny, but I do Easter eggs.  small children preclude the use of fake grass.
Typically, if I am doing holiday stuff, it's for someone else I care about to whom it is important.  If I was still single and living on my own...holidays would not be part of my reality. 

the real secret is:  (I'm so terrible)...I really like it that Bub is unaware of most holidays and Zbear is too young to be learned in the art of holiday expectations so I can get out of doing holiday crap (mostly).  bahahaha!  I am so bad.

So w/ the exception of Easter, and Christmas once in a while if I'm especially missing my Mom, I avoid the fuss of holidays and I intend to keep it that way as long as Zbear lets me.   I give it another year if I'm lucky, as Grandma is a BIG holiday person and is usually the one who gives me the proverbial "kick in the pants" to be a good momma and teach her kids holiday traditions by instilling the expectations to my kiddos.  Which is fine, I just like to laugh at myself.  (yes she reads this)  :)  

Thus explains my effort of Babka, and we did do easter eggs with Grandma, but Bub recently discovered that he can see pictures and short videos of himself and Zbear on my camera and has taken to sneaking off with it to do his own private viewing, and hiding of said camera.  Therefore, my camera was hidden by Bub during the egg coloring.  Grandma took pictures but I haven't gotten any yet.  (hint)  *winks*

The coloring was sad.  the dye wouldn't stay on the eggs so they looked all mottled and mangy, Zbear kept trying to drink the dye and eat the egg, shell and all, and ended up pouring orange dye on her purple outfit.

mottled eggs at Easter Dinner on Saturday since I worked on Sunday and had to sleep after church

Teaching Zbear the traditional egg cracking game

Bub only peals and smooshes the eggs, he won't eat them if not scrambled

Zbear in her Easter dress my Mom made her

Why are you snapping my picture momma?

Upright view of the cuteness

Love the thumb-sucking  :)

It was a nice Easter, our church did our Easter cantata in which I was a participant and it went very nicely.  I got home, sugared up the kids and took a nap so Joe had to deal w/ sugar-freak kids  (hahahahahahahah).  Then I went to work (boo) and had a rough night.  unfortunately I can't talk about it...I'm glad HIPPA exists to protect patients, but it sucks that I can't vent about stuff.  It's like I'm a spy...I have vital info that can't be shared...Nurse007.  lol.

Christ is Risen!  He is Risen indeed!

Nubs!

Babka!

One of the Ukrainian traditions I strongly hold to is having Babka for Easter.

Sadly, I do not live near an Orthodox Church of any variety (there are 2 small ones in Tyler, but w/ my car the way it is, I'm not leaving town except for work)...and so I have nowhere to go to have it blessed on Easter Morning.

Which is weird that I even want to do that, since we only did that a few times when I was a kid, my parents choosing a Lutheran Church for us to worship in as a family (Dad-Eastern Catholic + Mom-Orthodox = LCMS Lutheran.  ????)   But for some reason, I was thinking it would be nice to make Babka myself and get it blessed.  I am such a nerdling.

So skipping the blessing, I'm making the Babka, This is the first time I have actually made it myself, as Mom usually sends me some every year.  As I was making it, I realized all the years I "helped" Mom make it, all I ever did was fight Ross about who got to "punch" it down after each rising (there are 3 risings). Called Mom and we laughed about that.  :)  Had to describe how I was kneading the dough to her to make sure I was doing it right, cuz it's not like kneading bread...you have to grab a blob and pull, over and over for 10+ min or it won't bake right.  so here I am on the phone describing how the dough is pulling off the sides of the bowl and stretching, and Mom's saying "yeah, yeah, yeah" the way she does, and I am wishing Dad would just get off his butt about changing their DIAL-UP internet to anything that is faster so I could just send Mom a quick picture or stream her a video to make sure I'm doing this right!!!!!  Oh Dad and his refusal to pay for anything that can be gotten for free, even if the free sucks, it's free...right?  (help me, this is in my genes too)

There is a recipe in here for sheep brains.....

So here is my Babka recipe adapted from the "Traditional Ukrainian Cookery" by Savella Stechishin
It has multiple steps that have to be done separately b4 you can mix it all together.  very process driven.

Step 1:
1 C. soy milk
1/3 cup "flour"
Boil/scald the soy milk and mix into the flour slowly w/ a wisk. 
   I don't own a wisk as Bub decided it would be fun to dismantle it, I used a fork

beat thoroughly until smooth and free of lumps
     not having a wisk, my batter was lumpy, the book suggests putting it thru a sieve if necessary...it was necessary.  I felt like I was making spaetzle!!!!

Babka "spaetzle"

Cool to lukewarm

While I was boiling the soymilk I started step 2:
1/2 c. lukewarm water
2 tsp sugar
3 packages dry granular yeast  (I have a huge amount of jarred yeast, so I used 3 Tablespoons) 
Dissolve sugar into lukewarm water (MUST BE LUKEWARM!!) add yeast cover w/ tea towel and let rest until bubbly

While boiling and waiting I started step 3:
10-12 egg yolks (I used 11)
2 whole eggs


Separate the eggs, save the whites for a different recipe
I put my whites into a ice cube tray and froze them for other stuff

*Side story time...*
As I began to separate the eggs, I remembered the post I read yesterday from Rue Rice about making Cascarones with her kids...what the heck!  we're going to be coloring eggs tomorrow, lets do that too since I'm going to have 12+ empty egg shells...  So I spent a lot of time carefully tapping small holes on the tops of the eggs so I could save the shells.  I am TRULY a super-nerd.
*Side story time over*

by now the yeast should be bubbly, so back to step 2:
Mix soymilk/flour mixture w/ yeast mixture.  fold well. let it rise again until tall and bubbly in a warm quiet place
I use my microwave so I don't have to worry about any munchkins sticking their hands into it.  ;)

Bubbly yeast-flour-soymilk brew

Back to step 3:
1 tsp Salt
1 cup sugar
1 cup melted Parve Margarine "butter"
2 tsp vanilla
grated rind of 1 lemon
I forgot to buy a lemon, so I used orange zest instead

Beat the yolks and eggs with the salt.  Slowly add the sugar, vanilla and zest.  Melt the "butter" and let it cool before adding

while I was waiting for the "butter" to cool, I started step 4:
Sift 5-6 cups "flour"