Things I have done lately that I've never done before:

1. Made a souffle. Methinks, like risotto, this foodstuffs difficulty of preparation has been much exaggerated. I had a carrot ginger soup simmering away and no desire to make bread to accompany it. So, a cheese souffle. It was easy enough - a roux, some cheese, some folding of egg whites - and rather beautiful, if a somewhat glorified version of scrambled eggs. The whole experience would have been much better if I wasn't cursing out my husband - because you know, timing is everything with the souffle. So I put off assembling the elements until he came home. Which is usually at 5:30. Except it was 7:00 and he still wasn't home so I mad to make the dreaded "um, are you still alive or just a jerk" angry wife phone call. He was just a jerk who left his phone at the office and went for beers with his boss who collared him on the way out with a "I'm buying". Not that he needed much persuasion, I am sure. After soundly reinforcing the message that now that we have the kid, disappearing for a few hours has much direr consequences than it once did, and apologizing for the delay of the souffle, he did offer up that the evening was not pleasurable and I shouldn't be jealous that he got to drink beer and talk with adults. It seems one of his co-workers decided to bring up politics and ask who everyone was voting for. Idiot. Everyone else at the table said McCain, of course. So AH said he was a Democrat and hoped it would be Obama he was voting for, but Hillary would be fine too. Welllll. Silence at the table, then one of them said "Well, I guess you don't like working. I guess you don't want to keep your job." Oh yeah, because the Republicans have made the economy so much more stable and stronger...oh wait. Then everyone at the table agreed Hillary had "no soul" and ordered another round. Jebus, you can say many things about any politician but - no soul? That's too much. I'm not supporting Hillary on this go round not because of her credentials or her own self, but because of the timing. It just seems wrong. My sister, who pays no attention to world news, let alone American politics, questioned my Obama support with a "But is he experienced enough?" and I was shocked that the Clinton message had somehow penetrated her reality all the way up in Northern Canada.) ANYWAY - souffle, even eaten later than expected = delicious.

2. I got a smile from the baby, a real one, not a gas one. People said to wait until the 6th week and boy, were they right. It's like a switch has flipped - she doesn't just uniformly freak out 24/7. She sleeps and eats in an orderly way and more importantly, kind of likes to play now, with us and with toys. She doesn't cry has as much and spends large amounts of time waving her hands and making cooing noises. Also, and this is shallow I realize but true, her baby acne has gone away and she just looks so much more baby-like without that angry red rash. I am awfully fond of her and not just because I have to be. Feeding continues its own set of challenges - this week I started taking the herb fenugreek to help up my scanty milk supply and it is very odd. It turns your urine the color of Mr. Clean, fluorescent yellow, and makes your sweat smell like maple syrup. It's very Canadian. Actually, it's what is used to make that fake maple syrup, like Aunt Jemima's. Come over - I'll make you hungry for pancakes!

3. I saw a squirrel fall. Now that I have my bird feeders up and running, I spend too much time watching them through the kitchen windows. And I saw this squirrel make one of those death defying leaps they make between skinny wee branches - and then he fell,like 15 feet straight to the ground. I gasped, genuinely concerned, but he got up, looked around and went back up that tree. It's hard to keep a good squirrel down.

4. I spent like the stereotypical American consumer this weekend, spending far more time in big box stores than I have ever wanted to. First to replace the digital camera I broke. Then a car stereo which we tried to have installed but the thieves also stole the stupid brackets which we now have to special order from Subaru. Thanks a lot thieves. I felt bludgeoned by B%st Buy and the thousand foot TV's and glassy-eyed five year olds playing video games and the sheer volume of STUFF like every episode of Full House on DVD in a special box shaped like the painted lady houses in SF - like who? Who in the world would buy that? I'm a movie freak but I have very few items on DVD - just Shop Around the Corner, Rushmore, The Royal Tannenbaums (the packaging was just too nice) and a Michael Haneke movie, The Piano Teacher. I stopped buying them because I refuse to get caught up in "migrating" my own collections if that's what I'm going to do for a living at a library.

5. I bought American Girl Guide cookies, which are totally different from Canadian ones. We have fudge and vanilla creme sandwich cookies. You guys have a freaking galaxy of flavors. I chose Thin Mints and "Carmel Delites" which AH informs me used to be called Samoas. I love the name Samoa and I guess it's not cool to name a snack after an island/ethnicity but c'mon Carmel Delites? That's the best you can do? You're not even mentioning the coconut...mmm, coconut.

Umm, let's see. Yup, I've diapered, fed, rocked, burped before so nothing new there...that's all I got.