Just feel like cooking....

So today I have spent A LOT of time in the kitchen.

Yesterday my friend brought snickerdoodles to our weekly meeting. They were sooo good, I got the craving for them and so right now I have the dough chilling in the refrigerator.
Then the day before we were talking about tamales - I think it was the day before, lol. Anyway, today I made the sauce for tamales and once the chicken thaws, I will cook it with the sauce. I don't think I'll get to assemble them tonight, but at least the hard part is done.
I have a yummy and hearty beef lentil and barley soup in the crockpot, and there is BBQ chicken in the oven for dinner.
Tomorrow I am thinking we will have beef stew in bread bowls for dinner. Life is about to get more busy, and so I had better take advantage of this desire to cook so that I have some back-ups for when I don't!

We went to our new Costco this morning - it was so busy! We saw our neighbors there - I was joking with them that we live across the street, yet we never see eat other. I admit, we haven't been home very much, and they both work full-time. We used to see the man in the morning when we would leave for park, but we've been leaving earlier than usual or sleeping in lately.


My mom called today - she was going to go to my cousin's baby shower and while she was out picking a gift, she decided to buy my kids shoes. I thought that was very nice of her. I guess if she wants to spend her hard-earned money, its better that she spend it on her own grandkids. I prefer that she not spend it at all, and save it for a rainy day, but what can I do? We discussed that I saw my one of my cousins at the farmer's market, and that I was planning to visit them soon. Her parents are my god parents, and I would love to see them again.

Which brings me to something that I had been thinking about lately.

Growing up, we never saw very much of my mom's family. When my dad left, we spent the holidays with my mom's sister that very first Thanksgiving and Christmas....but after he reappeared, we never went back. My mom had several cousins in the same town as us, but we rarely went to visit. We always went to visit my dad's family. I was never really attached to any of her family.
So now that I am older and I have dealt with the things my "family" has done to me, I find myself deeply desiring to re-connect with my mom's family. None of them have ever hurt me, none of them do things that I am ashamed of telling, I cannot think of one that is not a decent, respectable person.
My dad's side of the family is not a real family. They don't know how to love each other and stick together. They will talk nicely to each other and then talk nasty behind each others' backs. I understand that families need to vent sometimes, but they do it for hobby. No one can have anything better than the rest - then its considered bragging.
I don't want my kids to experience that. No matter what the differences between my brother in law and I, my kids will NOT hear me bash their uncle. I save that for private discussions with Hongo when BIL has done something stupid again. They know that I get upset with him, but I don't go dragging out his defects over and over again.
So I am really looking forward to seeing my godmother. Hongo wants me to ask her about my Native American heritage and get as much info as possible for our children.


I better get back to cooking.