It's January. And??

And nothing. I've got nothing. Hold on a sec, let me check back to see what on god's green earth I was writing about at this time last year.
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{opens blog archives, prays for inspiration}
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Ha! As it turns out, the more things change, the more they stay the same.
http://anewnill.blogspot.com/2014/01/bored.html

But I'm going to stay positive and note that at least there is no snow on the ground. That's probably my favorite thing about January 2015 right now. How about some others? Surely I can come up with some good stuff this month has had to offer.

1) Let's start with alcohol. Always a good decision when you're stuck inside. My new favorite drink is the Moscow Mule. It's seriously delicious and refreshing and I totally love it. Russia...vodka....cold....winter...it's totally fitting. Now I just need a ushanka and one of those fancy copper mugs they are traditionally served in. Я люблю это!

2) My new favorite place is called Launch. It's a trampoline park that just opened in Watertown about 5 minutes from my house. A friend and I took our boys last week and they jumped around for an hour, were laughing, panting, sweating and begging for more. Any activity that knocks Ashton out cold at bedtime...I will be devoted to you. I particularly love this place because there are no germy toys and the exercise, when you're 3, is what I'll call "whole body". Lots of falling and getting back up, bouncing and recovering, rolling, flipping, etc. The waiver I signed was about as long as the US Constitution including amendments. Did you know trampolines are very dangerous but so is a cooped-up 3 year old. I'll take my chances.

3) My favorite day so far has been Sunday, January 18. I checked the thermometer; it was warm enough to be outside. I opened the door to feel for rain; it was not precipitating. I did a quick mental checklist: does anyone need a new diaper right now? Negative. Does anyone need to eat right now? Negative. Was there enough time until someone DID need a diaper or something to eat? Affirmative.
[Pause...]

"Ok boys, MOVE! Let's go! Outside! Ashton get your shoes on! Where's your coat? Do you want to take your scooter or your bike? Where the heck did I put your helmet. Alex! Doubletime! Fleece suit baby! Let's get you stuffed in to that thing. Ashton - your shoes!! NOW!" I marched both of these guys out the front door left-right-left style with Ashton yelling "YES-Drill-Sar-Jint!"

Hahahaha but it was the only way. Playground time in January is virtually nonexistent and I'm happy to report, we were out a good 45 minutes before it started to drizzle and at that point, it was lunch time. The fresh air was sooo good for our souls!

4) I have two favorite new gadgets. The first is my crockpot that Santa brought me. The second is our blender, which I have really never used until I decided it was time to see if I could get Ashton to drink his vegetables, because he certainly won't eat them like he's supposed to. So slow-cooker meals and smoothies have been my January initiatives with moderate success. For the first, I made salsa chicken the other day - it was unbelievable how easily it shredded but definitely needed some doctoring up afterwards. Not so much flavor as I would have thought.

I also made some bolognese sauce which was just ok. I'm used to sauces that boil down and thicken, not sit with a lid on and steam. Room for improvement.

As far as the "poothies" go - Ashton loves them.

And I love them because you can dump pretty much anything in there and press blend haha. The first batch we made had blueberries, strawberries, pineapple, a banana, greek yogurt, OJ, ice, and a scoop of vanilla ice cream for sweetness. Oh, and kale! I bought a huge bunch of the curly-leaf kind and sold Ashton on the fact that we needed a rainbow of colors to make the smoothie work and kale was our green. He was so completely into this I almost laughed at how easy it was. There are a lot of wonderful things about smoothies: first, I discovered you can blend them up and then freeze them in portions. I use the microwave to defrost just to the point where they are still icy but can be poured into a cup. Second, they are the answer to any fruit that is on its last day or not quite appealing to eat as is (like mushy strawberries). And I can't wait to see what other veggies I can sneak in there. Third, the novelty. Ashton picks what he wants to go in it, gets to press the buttons on the blender and then as such is excited to drink it. And I do a happy dance in the corner watching the kale flow through the straw and into his unsuspecting little body ;) My overall plan was to make so many smoothies Jason would have to approve the purchase of a fancy new blender specifically for this purpose. Annoyingly, the one we have works just fine.

5) My favorite person is Anthony Cardillo. Well, this is a bit of a stretch. He is the contractor that bought the house across the street last spring. Sometime last fall, he came by and showed us the plans for the duplex he planned to build there. Honestly, it broke my heart. The house had been owned and lived in for 50 years by the same couple, Rosemary and Joseph (Ro and Jo). They were incredibly sweet neighbors, but they were old and it was time to sell. Their lot is extra wide and we knew when it went up for sale that it was likely to be bought by a contractor, torn down, and be replaced by some condos. It's a popular business model around here. Sucks.

Anyway, they closed in July and nothing at all happened until last week. I was beginning to think maybe their plans had fallen through, but nope. The excavator came on Thursday and it was clear: demo day had arrived. Behold, the before and afters.

In between these pictures were massive amounts of rubble and the biggest, longest dump trucks you have ever seen.

The house debris filled two of those and Ashton spent the entire morning with his face plastered to the front window. So I'm saying (through gritted teeth), thank you Anthony Cardillo for the free entertainment that will be ours for the next several months. I'm glad the project is underway and also glad you start at 7 am every morning. 

Make sure to save all your loudest tools for naptime.

See, look at that. A whole post of positivity and then I end on a snarky note. Did you know that it's a proven fact that months of sleep deprivation make it very difficult to regulate emotions and maintain a steady state of happiness? Alex is 10 months old and it's starting to get to me haha. I don't even need to make excuses for being cranky though because it's science.

Anyway, if you need us, look for us at Launch. Ashton will jumping and and drinking his kale and I'll be the one wearing a fur hat with a copper mug. Alex will be there too, just looking cute :)