Orange you glad I didn't say Banana?

Because today felt slightly like a bad knock knock joke.

The kids got to camp (nightmare not equipped for the handicapped, ESPECIALLY the handicapped and stroller bearing with two other kids). They got home. I fed em lunch. They all napped. I dealt with two huge household finance jobs I had to take care of. I drove for the first time. I bought Luke new pajamas. I food shopped (and got teary when I had to admit that I needed help loading my car.). I got Luke to the pediatrician (swimmers ear). I dealt with rush hour traffic. I talked to friends on the phone. I got all of the groceries put away. I arranged for the car to get serviced (this is not easy when you have three carseats/kids to deal with and no husband to help). I set up a time to view our family photos with my sister. I packed the bags, woke up the kids from naps, got them into their suits, and dropped 2/3rds of them off at the pool with the nanny. I picked them up a few hours later. I served the dinner a friend made. The nanny bathed the kids while I cleaned up, chopped up and washed all the fruit and put all the food away and laid out all of tomorrows (also annoyingly color coded, tomorrow is  blue day) camp outfits. I read the kids a long book and put them all to bed after the sitter left (I only had her from 3-7 today). I called the Ortho for a handicapped parking pass, after wanting to beat people over the head with my crutch having to park a block away from camp today. It almost killed me, but the damn fact is that with three kids and crutches, I'm handicapped at the moment.  And then I got in the shower tonight after my three clean, sweet wonderful kids were in bed, and I used the most delicious pineapple coconut oil scrub, and I got out of the shower and used my favorite coconut oil, and put argan oil in my hair, and climbed into bed, and just started to laugh. Because this is life with HELP!!!. Nate is still working away downstairs. He leaves tomorrow, for the rest of the week, and weekend, for school. And this is life where I am RESTING! Oh SHIT!  I'm considering going back on painkillers just to reinstitute that twice a day nap I was so enjoying. Seriously.

But I know that this is just part of reentry. Right? I need to find a great quote about resting. Or get hit over the head. Or take up the two martini lunch, perhaps. Because sometimes it feels like its just easier to push through one really hard, really long day, in order to set the rest of the week up right. And I need the week to go right.

Anyway. Two raves, today. Oils. I am obsessed with oils. In my body, on my body, on my nails, on my hair.......everywhere. I've had a love affair with a local Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar store for some time now, but this GF thing has taken it to an obsessive level. I've almost stopped using spices, let alone any pre-made marinades or sauces, in lieu of different oils, vinegars, and fresh herbs from my garden, with maybe a lemon or lime thrown in. I feel like my palate is clean in a new way. Sunday night I made a double batch of quinoa (something I've taken to doing most Sunday's, as it is so versatile, holds up well,  and I eat it most days in one way or another as part of lunch), and as we were low on food from vacation I threw in a can of kidney beans, a can of black beans, some leftover cooked corn I cut off the cob from the night before, fresh tomatoes and cilantro from the garden, two avocados, sea salt, and drizzled this ancho honey serrano chili olive oil over the entire thing. It was sick good. Like, scooping it up with your fingers kind of eat it for three days good. Tonight a friend brought a GF baked ziti along with a salad that had chopped up apples, blue cheese, and walnuts. I used a new walnut oil paired with a red apple balsamic and the results were amazing. I've also been making this with Grapeseed oil and can't get enough of it, although I don't use that brand name balsamic, and instead use a champagne balsamic I get locally. I'm also drizzling the overwhelming amount of zucchini our garden is yielding with olive oil, salt, and a balsamic creme, grilling it,  and eating it like candy.

I was thinking about all this this afternoon as I had the quinoa salad round deux, followed up by summer fruit, and I got this mini panic thinking about GH eating come winter. All of a sudden it seemed like it might suck. And then I remembered squashes and pumpkins and apples and sage and....well. It might only suck a little more? All in all I have to say that this whole transition has been wonderful for me. For Nate? Not quite as much. He struggles a bit more, especially when traveling. Occasionally it can be hard as we do still have a lot of non GF things in the house as the kids don't eat that way.  All of our dinners are GF, as I only make one dinner. And this morning, for instance, I made oatmeal, and as I only make one breakfast, of course it was GF. Yogurt, cottage cheese, eggs, cheese, fruit, all GF, and those are our breakfast foods. Lunches are harder, as most every day the kids eat either some sort of sandwich, or wrap. Most of our pool snacks for the kids are not GF, so we definitely have plenty of non GF items in the house. Ice cream? GF! :)

Anybody else have any culinary or beauty oil obsessions lately?

I don't know. I'm totally rambling. I have nothing of note to say, other than it was a really fucking hard day, and that I'm one day closer to being better, so that's great. One day closer. And admitting that I need a handicapped sticker is simply a fact of driving. The past few weeks I have had a driver to drop me off at ever entrance. Having to actually park myself has shown me, clearly, that at the moment, and surely not for long, I'm a bit handicapped.

Pride, swallowed.

*ETA. I need to issue an official internet apology to my kids camp/school. After being stressed all morning and intentionally getting there 15 minutes early ~ I found the elevator. Of COURSE there was an elevator. The worst part? I've walked past it for the past 3 years, because I haven't needed it, either wearing my baby or my running clothes. Interesting how blind we are to the things we don't need, until we very much need them.