Parting Thoughts

Nope, not dying over here or shutting down the blog, butttttt I am going to be out of town for the next week meeting and greeting this little one for the first time:

 

Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!  That's right, I'm headed back to Atlanta!  Through the years, I've been fortunate enough to be able to be with my sister right after the birth of each of her children.  Being able to meet my new niece and nephew in those first few weeks of their life was indescribable and being there for my sister when she needed my help was the least I could do.  Soooooooo, this time around there are 2 toddlers in the mix which means non stop activity, of which I am already a huge fan.  The only thing that concerns me is that I'm going to have to feed a family of 4 (5?) each night and as we all know my culinary skills are abysmal.  In fact, today at work, I actually had to Google 'how to hard boil an egg' in order to prepare my NannyKid's lunch.  I'm outrageous.  So if you have any EASY to make dinner ideas for me (I mean, like they literally contain 5 ingredients or less and don't involve a recipe), please leave them below.

Ok, now for the random roundup of this week's happenings:

1.  I saw these in the lobby of my building this week - Didn't even know they still existed:

 

Does anyone use these anymore?!  And also, that's a lot of dead trees right there.

 

 

2.  I was mindlessly scrolling through my Facebook feed the other day, pondering taking the next BuzzFeed 'If you were a breakfast cereal, what would you be' Quiz, when this pops up and smacks me like a 2x4 to the head:

 

 

IT'S NOT EVEN FALL YET!  People need to calm the H down on the Christmas mania in September.  However, reading through some of the comments on this post was actually a highlight of my day.  They included such gems as "Do not get me started on the Christmas before Halloween stuff.  I will throw a pumpkin at the TV".  I am with you lady. 

 

 

3.  It's concord grape season!!

 

My grandparents have a grape arbor over their back patio that has it's origins in Sicily.  My great grandparents brought a sprig over from the old country and planted it in Brooklyn where they settled.  Then when my grandfather moved to Pennsylvania, he took some of the vine with him and started an arbor in his new home.  When I was a kid, the arbor was huge and concord grapes were everywhere.  These grapes are what (purple) grape juice and jelly are made from and they taste much different from normal red and green seedless grapes.  I think they are only in supermarkets in September?  Not sure, but it's a very limited window around here.  If you've never had them, I def suggest trying them!

 

4.  And finally, if I come back to Baltimore in a body cast, this is why:

 



 

My brother in law's suggestion for outdoing the popping-out-of-a-box entrance that occurred on my last visit.  COUNT ME IN

 

 

I obviously won't be blogging next week, but I will be reading!  I'm sure my IG feed will be full of baby/kid photos for the next 7 days as well if you're interested.  Chat with you all in a week :)

 

 

Have any go-to family friendly, EASY to make meals?!

 

Do you still use a phone book?

 

Ever had concord grapes?