Step Into My Thimble

As some readers here may know, I work part-time and so does my friend Kirsten, and on our respective work days, we trade our children. On the rare occasion that I have a vehicle, and said vehicle has the everyday *and* the extra car seat installed in back, what else is there to do but bravely attempt to run around town with two children in tow? I give you our day in crappy pictures now.

Stop 1: SuperPetz. Better than the zoo, especially five minutes after they open and nobody else is in there. Vocabulary word of the day: “ferret.”

Stop 2: Toys-R-Us. Went there to check on an item a friend had recommended–it was my first time in there in literally 20 years, and it’s still as creepy as ever. A minor meltdown ensued, as I had anticipated, because it is impossible to hold every single toy simultaneously, especially the toy that someone else is holding. Oh, and completely forgot to check on the recommended item.

Kid B, post Toys-R-Us meltdown. The drama was left behind in the parking lot.

Stop 3: Unplanned emergency stop for female supplies. A dreadful, dreadful place, made worse by all the cheap and loud animatronic Halloween decor for sale.

Stop 4: The suburbia public library. Ordinarily this is not my favorite (hello, shunned me for a job at least once, never even acknowledged my applications, I could kick some serious reference ass up in there), but they have a good toddler area with a lot of toys and pretend kitchens and playhouses and stuff.

Kid A, staring down some mommies as they plot their next Wal*Mart/Starbucks run (I know, the irony!!).

Kid B, steamrolling wood puzzles in the library quite seriously.

Stop 5: Chain restaurant for lunch. Hey it’s the suburbs, where else are you gonna go? And this place always has an abundance of clean high chairs, organic milk in little boxes, and really good rice crispy treats, making it entirely possible to have a sort of fun lunch as a single adult with two toddlers!

Kid B with the greatest restaurant child-deflector device of all time: a straw.

Kid A enjoying a straw while I enjoy the mostly-empty surroundings.

After this traversing of the Mighty Portage, Michigan, Kids A and B rewarded me with a 2.5 and a 2 hour nap respectively, and not long after that Kirsten (mother of Kid B) came to retrieve him. All in a day’s work.

My camera is pretty much dead. I’m okay with that since I got it all the way back in the spring of 2003, and in digital terms that is truly ancient. Earlier this year, I decided it was time to start saving for a new one, and around that time I lost the cover to my camera. I never bothered to replace it. Of course the camera has been dropped a few times since, and most times now it won’t even turn on anymore.

So I got a new camera.

I am afraid to open it though. I’m wondering if I should have bought the XTi instead. I know about the differences between the two, and I also know that the XT probably won’t be available anymore after the end of this year. But I still think it’s a good starter SLR and the body should be fine for at least a few years if I want to buy more lenses. In addition to the fact that prices have come down so much on digital SLRs, I wanted to buy one to be able to capture more pictures of my kid in action…one thing that the S400 was never good at. I think the XTi might be better in that department, but really, how much different can it be?

Have I made a big mistake? Should I scrounge up the extra $200 and make the switch?

Or should I go to the Punk Rock Name Generator and name my new Rebel XT?

Out of all the cobbler recipes I’ve tried, this one always wins. It’s from the 1963 edition of the McCall’s cookbook. Try it with any combination of apples, berries, peaches…it’s great.

French Apple Cobbler

Filling:
10 C peeled sliced apples
3/4 C sugar (or less)
2 T flour
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t salt
1 t vanilla extract (or almond, or neither)
1 T butter

Topping:
1/2 C sifted flour
1/2 C sugar
1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
2 T soft butter
1 egg, slightly beaten

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Mix fruit and filling ingredients. (Optional tweak: add 2 T instant tapioca and 1/4 cup water, or just the tapioca if you are using very juicy fruit/berries.) Turn filling into a 9″ x 9″ baking pan. Dot with butter.

Mix batter together with a wooden spoon. Drop in 9 portions onto the fruit, spacing evenly. It will spread during baking. (Optional tweak: sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.)

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until fruit is fork-tender and crust is golden brown.

Serve warm with ice cream, whipped cream, custard sauce, or all by itself.