Two Kinds of Heartbreak

The Trophy Wife had a very sad weekend. In a very unfortunate turn of events, my dear friend Julie lost the baby she was carrying. For those of you who have experienced this kind of loss, I am sure that you know Julie's pain. I too lost 3 before our Tyler was born. Such a profound grief broke my heart. It is an odd kind of loss. Most people don't know, don't understand, or don't acknowledge the life that was so precious to you, so often the suffering is endured alone. For all the mothers out there who have lost a baby, know that we are strong together. This terrible sorority that we belong to unites us. My love to Julie, and to anyone else who has experienced this loss.

Now on to something that will hopefully make you smile.

When I went to bed tonight, I noticed, sitting right there on my night stand, a beautiful red bag gaily festooned with two kinds of ribbon, and containing a note from Santa. You can imagine my surprise! The envelope says: Merry Christmas and North Pole.

Inside I found a note that read:

Dear Melnie,

Your (You are) good tallented (talented) and your doters (daughters) never get coal so far.

Your Friend,

Santa

I guess I can rest easy, now that I know Tyler and Ryan aren't on the "Naughty List" so far. It is a little bit early in the season, for Pete's sake it's not even Thanksgiving yet, but I suppose this bodes well for the girls. I am concerned though, that Santa hasn't given the proper care and attention to his English writing skills. He seems to have the spelling proficiency of a second grader.

The tag read:

To: Melani

From: Santa Clase

I'm glad he spelled my name right this time. Let's hope in his off-season, he can get the remedial education he needs.

Thanks to my little imp Tyler,

for breaking my heart in a happy way.

The Camera Adds 40 LBS

Well, today I appeared in print for the first time. Our local paper does weekly articles on cooks in the area, and this week they did a piece about The Trophy Wife. They call the column "Cook du Jour," but between you, me and the fencepost, it really should be "Cook de la Semaine," as it is Cook of the Week, not Cook of the Day... but I suppose that would lead to mass confusion as to what a Semaine is. We don't want folks thinking I'm involved with anything untoward, after all. If you want to read the article, you can find it at: http://www.vcstar.com/news/2009/nov/15/baking-makes-womans-spirits-rise/. The most shocking part of the article was the abnormally large woman that was pictured along with. I thought, who is that girl... oh... it's me... Bummer...

Here is a picture of me, taken just LAST NIGHT while on a hot date with Fulghi... just so you know I am really not pushing 3 bills, FOR PETE'S SAKE.

So off onto greater things, as I have exhausted all the recipes in Ina's first book that:

A. I was interested in, and

2. Did not contain shellfish (allergic,) or ham. (Fulghi tries to keep it kosher, except, of course, in regards to bacon, of which he is an equal-opportunity consumer.)

So, to fill the endless hours of leisure that makes up the life of The Trophy Wife, I have been consuming myself with more altruistic pursuits. Yes, The Trophy Wife has a heart of gold, with an enormous capacity for magnanimous acts of kindness. (For those of you who just threw up a little bit in the back of your mouth... work with me.) I have been churning out baked good upon baked good for The Marriage Course at our church. Fulghi and I have both been previous students, and really appreciate the opportunity we had to become closer as a couple. Just so you know... Cooking for 60 is not the same as cooking for 4, let me tell you... however, I did enjoy breaking in my new kitchen, and was pleased with the greater amount of space, and the improved functionality. Here are some pics of my recent offerings.

So The Trophy Wife is now back in the saddle, and will be bringing more consistent humorous culinary/domestic/matrimonial/parental offerings heretofore to a computer near you.