Tesla the Biscuit Maker

Setting: The bed. Ben and I snuggle as Tesla purrs happily and walks from side to side, randomly making biscuits before moving on.

Ben: "He's looking for some batter. You know, to make some biscuits."

Tweet

Shenandoah

Ben loves Shenandoah National Park, and he specifically loves hiking Old Rag, described on the park's website thusly:

"Shenandoah's most popular and most dangerous hike. The number of blogs and websites about this hike attests to its popularity. The number of search and rescue missions each year attests to its danger. There's no doubt that the scramble is great fun and the views are spectacular. A day on Old Rag is one of Shenandoah's premier experiences."

So he was sorely disappointed when the weather prediction for the weekend we'd chosen to go hike the mountain and camp out in Shenandoah was rainy and cold. But wait! Friday of that weekend looked to be spectacular. So, being the loving wife I am, I took off Friday and we made a last minute change of plans.

As predicted, the hike was difficult, but mostly enjoyable. That is not to say that I did not get cranky when I thought we had gotten to the summit only to find out that no, there was still more to climb. I generally get cranky at least once during all of our outdoor camping/hiking activities so this is no surprise. As Ben said when we got home, "I'm just glad you didn't cry this time."

After the 4.5 hour round trip hike we drove further into Shenandoah and checked in at Big Meadows campground. It took several circuits of the area before Ben was able to select a camp site to his liking, but once set up we treated ourselves to a glorious shower in a trailer brought in during renovations of the camp's permanent showers (no complaints here as the water was hot!), bowls of lukewarm reheated spaghetti and s'mores with marshmallows roasted on sticks Ben whittled out of our $7/cord firewood. 

I did manage to sleep, though it required two pairs of socks, two pairs of pants, a long sleeved shirt, a sweatshirt, a fleece jacket, gloves, a hat and a sleeping bag to be comfortable enough to do so. I will say, not the worst night of sleep I've ever had in a tent. 

I did require a nap on Saturday to recover, but it was truly lovely to get outside, use our bodies, and just be together. Definitely something we should do more often.

Tweet

Stop it, Pinterest.

I'm admittedly at a point in my life where my hormones are like, let's have babies! But my brain and my husband are like, let's not. (Ok my brain is like maaaaybe and my husband is like absolutely fucking not.) And Pinterest isn't helping.

I searched things to crochet for my friend's impending baby like, once. And now every day is a deluge of Pinterest suggestions that have included childbirth tips, best types of bottle nipples, and of course, ovary-bustingly cute pictures of newborns. The internal war between head and heart is not helped by these unsolicited images. 

Case in point-I searched for some sort of kicky "damnit Pinterest!" image and the first two things to show up were crochet baby hat patterns. THOSE ARE NOT AT ALL RELATED YOUR ALGORITHM IS BROKEN.

Oh Pinterest...

Via

. 

Possibly related: today I've been popping peanut butter M&Ms like it's going out of style.

Tweet