#7QT: How Clever! How Wicked.

Another week come and gone... joining Jen's circus for this Labor Day weekend mayhem!

ONE

One delicious pie.

Perhaps it is because we're all settled in (ignore those boxes of books at the top of the stairs); or maybe it's because I'm in my third trimester; or maybe it's because I've realized that a kitchen without sweets is a very, very, very sad kitchen.

Will is not a dessert person (or a fruit person, or a vegetable person, for that matter). I never considered myself a dessert person until there were none to be found. They were not exactly "necessities" in our budget. I tried to think of creative ways to get them in the house.

To date, I've made Fourth of July cake, banana bread, snickerdoodle cookies, peach and berry pie, and carrot cake.

Will, in a sing-songy voice: "My wife is the best! My wife made me cake!"
Me: "It's carrot cake!"
Will, still singing: "My wife made me vegetable cake!"

Will didn't actually eat any of the carrot cake, but he supports my domestic endeavors, and our friends enjoy the sweets of my labor. Next up: muffins!

TWO

I devoured a British mystery show recently: Rosemary and Thyme. It centers around a plant pathologist, Rosemary Boxer, and Laura Thyme, a former police constable. After a twist of fate in the first episode, they become friends and business partners as gardeners. Gardeners, of course, who also solve murders! Quirky, very British, and quite enjoyable.

THREE

"I never speak lightly of murder... I hate to tempt fate." --Miss Marple

I've moved on to Agatha Christie's Miss Marple series (starring Geraldine McEwan). The title of this post is another quote from the infamous Jane Marple. Have you read the books and short stories, dear readers? The Complete Short Stories: A Miss Marple Collection by Agatha Christie is one of my favoritest books. If you're looking for a good puzzle and mystery read, I highly recommend picking it up.

FOUR

Happy 36 weeks to my Bambino Baldwin!

FIVE

My awesome friend Andrew sent me Bill Watterson's commencement speech at Kenyon College in May 1990, and it is just wonderful.

Slate published a comic based on part of that speech -- also really excellent.

SIX

Back in college, a few friends/ fellow American Studies majors and I would celebrate "Founding Fridays" and go out after class for a beer. So, when I saw this on St. Charles Street yesterday, it made me very, very happy.

I reviewed Stephen Mansfield's The Search for God and Guinness at TIC, and it is another fantastic read.

SEVEN

Any plans for this Labor Day weekend? Will has Friday AND Monday off, so he'll be studying for Step 3, listening to lectures, helping me decorate the nursery, and relishing in his time off. I am tying up loose ends, trying to enter September with less on my to-do list than when I moved down here!

Talk to me, birds!