Mishaps with beef stew

Yesterday we drove into Pasadena and visited some dear old friends and their five-week old son, Noah. He's a precious, sweet thing, and it was hard for his parents - and us - to believe that before long he could be a whooping near-toddler like our 11-month old Q... She and J. made quick work of their two-bedroom apt so we hit a nearby playground for the bulk of our visit.

We'd planned a potluck lunch but found I'd replaced our contribution, an avocado-black bean dip I'd made, with a container of beef stew I mistakenly grabbed instead when dashing out the door. Chips and beef stew, mmmm, how appetizing. This was the beef stew's second catastrophe since the day prior, during its cooking, I accidentally doused it with heaps of black pepper (mistaking the 'sprinkle' opening for the 'pour' opening on the top. It was so bad, I had to rinse all the ingredients and re-make the broth from scratch.) So this weekend, I more or less beef stewed myself into awareness of how scattered my mindset still is.

Y. worked till past 10 pm on Tues and Wed nights last week, and even on his early nights he wasn't home till just before the kids' bedtimes. It was an exhausting week for both of us. He's had some interesting experiences and overall is pleased with how things are going with his job. Next Sunday he will leave for four weeks of extensive training in San Diego which neither of us is too excited about.

His parents arrived yesterday for a two-week visit, and we four all mini-vanned from our baby-visiting, foiled potluck lunch date to LAX to pick them up. The pick-up was technically a success, though the two busses that had to wait behind us in the bus lane as we loaded them in probably didn't see it that way. We couldn't for the life of us figure out how to access the "passenger vehicles" pick-up lane... Maybe next trip.