so yesterday I got up and went to bed.

Kids come first; when the alarm rang I didn’t call through to Ferdinand and say “Mom is not getting up. See you later, honey.”
I got up, made him a chicken sandwich on 9 nine grain w/a side of kettle cooked chips, cookies, and sliced apple for his lunch and cold cereal with hot tea for his breakfast, brushed my teeth and stuck a pencil in my hair. I got the dog, the bookbag, and the boy out the door and walked the whole pack to school.
And then I came home and went to bed.
I thought maybe it was the coffee that was wiping me out but that was ridiculous. I gave it up yesterday and all it did was give me a headache.
It’s the change.
Change is exhausting.

To renew and revive I dug into the root cellar. Nothing like an onion, a clove of garlic, a shallot, a potato and a butternut squash all sauteed together with a shot of your best olive oil and some smashed up fennel seed to bring you back. Do a double and make a vegetables stock at the same time; part of a onion, a leek, a garlic clove, a little carrot, some celery, thyme sprig, parsley sprig and a bay leaf in a sauce pan w/about 4 cups of water, a sprinkle of sea salt, a peppercorn and a good drizzle of the olive oil. If you start w/the stock and then start to peel/slice your vegetables, when the vegetables are beginning to go tender, your stock will be ready. Add 4 halved and seeded cherry tomatoes to a hot spot in the saute pan and let them sit until they collapse then stir them around with the others. Add a few ladlefuls of stock to the squash, just to their tops without going over. Let it simmer away without a lid until everything is fork smashable. If you like it spicy, add a few red pepper flakes or a whole little chili.
Smash it up-doesn’t have to be smooth, just smoothish.
Serve w/another good drizzle of your best olive oil, a spoon of strained whole milk yogurt and a shower of parmesan. Sauteed mushrooms on bruschetta wouldn’t be a bad side dish and neither would a platter of garlicky spinach.
I can’t say I have a face I’d want to make a flag of this morning, but so much better. Never give up your coffee.