today is my husband's birthday. he was supposed to be with my stepdaughter tonight but the storm put that on stops - we didn't have any other plans with the scheduling. we already did presents on sunday and next saturday we're doing cake. seemed a bit depressing for him so i just made cookies and lit a candle. night is picking up!

I finished painting the walls in my mum's bathroom, and have almost done patching a bunch of cracks in her drywall. Tomorrow: painting trim and finishing up the sanding & priming. In return I'm getting yummy dinners I don't have to cook and spinning lessons and supplies, though.

That looks really good, terrapin.

Today I volunteered in a classroom full of sweet kids.

I went to Best Buy with my husband and actually looked around for quite a while and had a smile on my face and didn't once ask to leave.

I bought my husband Reece's PB cups yesterday.

Can you substitute brown mustard seeds for yellow? I've only ever cooked with brown.

Also, "panko" always sounds really dirty to me.

I took my 2 year old to the mall to ride the escalators (one of his favorite things to do in the winter). I let him ride as much as I could possibly stand. I also let him spend time stomping his feet in several of the vestibules, something he particularly enjoys doing. He likes the echo and the feeling of mastery of the small space, I think. We did these two activities for nearly an hour. He seemed quite happy and satisfied.

I worked on the second of three pairs of hand-knit mittens I'm making for the boys in my D&D group. (Late Christmas presents.)

For lunch I bought myself a big thing of chocolate soy milk.

Wow, if my SO made me that dish (and brownies!) for dinner, it would be like, "Mount me now, Mr. Cuisine".

Alas, the only nice thing I did today was allow my dog to roll on the living room rug even though he still smells slightly like skunk.

Kangaroo, has your son seen a revolving door entry yet?

middleclasstool: I substituted a little Colemans dry mustard int he recipe. I also made a dressing of hummus with maple syrup and garlic chili sauce to dribble over it. Lastly I used regular Italian styled breadcrumbs because we always seem to have some in the pantry.

Thanks for sharing the beauty, people.

If by "care about" you mean "like to hang out/play guitar/shoot the breeze with," then I just returned from a snowy walk to a place up the street where my downstairs neighbor had an improv show. I was one of four non-improvisers in the audience (it's snowing, it's Queens, it's Tuesday night) but all the groups were really funny, which I've found to be rare at improv shows. So really, one hand shakes the other, ya know? I show support and get entertained in return.

I coached a friend who is *very* inexperienced with dating about flowers to send for valentines

Lessee...I helped coordinate a free theatre performance for whoever wanted to come as part of a grant program. Then I made my honey'n'me pan-seared steak with chimichurri (thank you Cooking Light for the recipe), roasted potatoes, and arugula salad. Also I sent my mom a book she had wanted.