How Many 33 Year Old Women Do This?

Yesterday, I polished my white walls. We have a new used van that was previously owned by an older gentleman who must have thought white walls out was the cool way to display your tires. As if there can be anything cool about a tan colored mini-van anyway. Since I have this new-to-me vehicle, I thought I'd try something new. Keeping it clean. So, Friday is car cleaning day (thanks to the Fly Lady). Inside at least, but yesterday was a nice day. My husband, Matt, was home for a work holiday, and the outside of the van was dirty. Matt said that's never bothered me before. He's right. I can count on one hand how many times I washed my last van of 7 years. He washed it for me the first 6 months as I had newborn Jonah, but gave up after that. So, since the hose was already out for Matt's mortar mixing, it seemed to be a convenient and easy task. And whaddyaknow, it was! Inside the garage I have a vehicle washing bucket, and inside was a spray can of white wall washer! Why, I don't know, but I sprayed, scrubbed, polished, and rinsed those babies. Then, Jonah, now 6.5, sprayed the van while I washed. I guess people do change.

On another subject, today for the 4th of July, we're going to 2 parties if we want to put up with the rain. The first one is an international foods pot-luck. Non-American food basically. :) Though the party was rescheduled from another weekend, and there really aren't any international holidays to do such a party on. I'm excited about it. The host, Matt's co-worker Steven and his wife, Carrie, are serving Moroccan Stew and international beers and wines. I was going to bring Swiss fondue in my authentic pot, but the logistics of keeping it ready on the way over, and the COST of gruyere and ementaler cheese, holy moly. So, I made tiramisu, with less costly but still expensive mascarpone cheese (an Italian style cream cheese). I made one cake with mascarpone, and one with cream cheese. The mascarpone is SO much better, lighter, sweeter, yum (I licked the bowl, haven't tried the cake). My desserts usually taste good, but rarely get credit for their looks. The first hot milk sponge cake I made for the tiramisu flopped. The final products are so-so. I just took a picture to insert and the picture looks gross, so I will not! Grace is making practice 4-H chocolate crinkles for us to bring to the 2nd party. I hope there is no drunk firework lighting at the bonfire like last year. We'll just be watching and can hopefully get far enough away.