loving lately

Here are a few of the things I currently can't live without:

1. Sink strainer. We don't have a garbage disposal, and I was getting sick of having to always think extra hard before I threw something in the sink. Because, come on, we all know it's easier to just toss stray Cheerios into the sink rather than the tucked away garbage can. We picked this puppy up a few months ago, and I haven't looked back. It seriously nearly fulfills all of my kitchen dreams. (More counters, a dishwasher, and the ability to sit at the table and open the fridge at the same time are still ranking high in my ideal kitchen, but none of those are going to happen anytime soon, so I think I'll settle with the sink strainer.)

2. Hand broom with attachable dustpan. I have no idea why I didn't pick one of these up like three years ago when I first decided to start really caring about the cleanliness of my kitchen. After getting sick and tired of trying to sweep crumbs into a dustpan with a regular sized broom all by myself, I made a visit about a month ago to the cleaning aisle at Target and picked up a small hand broom and dustpan. The fact that the set only cost $1.99 made me kick myself for not having invested in one sooner.

3. Black raspberry ice cream. I used to be a brown and white only girl when it came to ice cream. Chocolate and vanilla, along with all of their variations, were the only flavors I considered worth my time. But then I tasted black raspberry ice cream and my opinions changed drastically. It is so, so good. Especially the Tillamook variety. I've also discovered that peach, marionberry, and huckleberry ice creams are also delicious, but I think that black raspberry is my favorite. Sometimes it even trumps by love of chocolate, which, let me tell you, is huge progress on my part. So I've lately had to do some rethinking in regards to my brown/white only point of view, and as I've done so, I've realized that the only colored ice creams I really don't like are strawberry and mint.

4. Essays by Anne Fadiman. You might remember that I loved her collection of essays on books and reading in Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader. A few weeks ago I picked up another collection of her essays called At Large and At Small: Familiar Essays. It's pretty fabulous. Fadiman is one intelligent cookie, and reading her essays, which cover a wide variety of topics while exhibiting her impressive vocabulary without sounding arrogant, leave me feeling smarter. Also, they are quite enjoyable to read. My favorite is one on the evolution of mail. When I was in school reading essays meant reading critical essays, which were always so difficult for me to get through. I've long enjoyed reading personal essays (what's blogging if not a series of personal essays?), but they are sometimes too fluffy for my education-craving self. Enter the familiar essay: a critical essay with a personal aspect. Reading familiar essays teaches me something new and interesting while making me feel quite at home. And I like that.

5. A baby who so happily hides the fact that he's teething. Garrett sprouted Tooth Number Six (his last upper incisor) while we were in Oregon. Last night, while he was hanging upside down off my lap with his mouth wide open, I discovered Tooth Number Seven and Tooth Number Eight poking through the back of his upper gums. That's right, folks: Garrett's growing molars. And not a whimper to show for it (at least not yet). In fact, in the few days since we've been back home, he's been the happiest I've seen him in a long time. I cannot even begin to tell you how nice it is to live with a teething baby who doesn't act like he's teething. Let's hope this lasts.