My older daughter thinks it’s crazy that girls’ shorts are so short. Actually, it’s not so much the abbreviated length that bothers her but the subsequent lack of deep pockets. “There’s hardly enough room to carry a cell phone!”

She hates the t-shirts, too. The material is so thin that an undershirt is always required.

“Why can’t girls clothes be like guys?” she’d fuss. “Their shorts are long, and the t-shirts are just plain t-shirts. Guys’ clothes make so much more sense.”

And then she learned that one of her girlfriends bought her athletic shorts from the men’s section, and it dawned on her: there was no reason she couldn’t buy her clothing from the men’s section, too!

“Mom, you gotta take me shopping!” she begged.

So off to Target we went, marching straight by the women’s clothing and going all the way to the back of the store where she delighted to discover entire racks filled with long, elastic-waisted, deep-pocketed shorts and plain t-shirts.

All practicality, that girl is.

This same time, years previous: on his own, the quotidian (7.21.14), curry potato salad, rellenitos, the quotidian (7.23.12), how to beat the heat, half-mast, and braised cabbage.

I now have two batches of pesto torte squirreled away in the freezer. I thought I was doing pretty great by accomplishing such a delicious feat, but the rest of the family was like, “ONLY two tortes? That’s not nearly enough!”

Actually, the tortes weren’t as complicated or time consuming as I thought they’d be. I made the cream cheese-ricotta part the day ahead of time. The next morning, I set up an assembly line: two bowls in which to measure the basil pesto ingredients and two bowls for the dried tomato pesto. Then whir-whir-whir-whir, the pestos were made, and all that remained was the layering and freezing.

So why not go ahead and make two more? Hmm…..

Silly me agreed to make sweet rolls for 250 people.

There’s a pastors’ convention in town this week and they needed volunteers for the coffee breaks, so I said sure, and how about I make sweet rolls from scratch to keep life interesting?

I’m making the buns small so I can get away with making less, but then I started feeling guilty for being such a cheapskate so now I’m making an extra hundred-plus rolls to assuage my conscience.

My daughter requested, once again, a red velvet cake for her birthday.

I have yet to land on a good red velvet cake recipe. The one I made last time was too dry, and this one (from Ree Drummond’s cookbook), while wonderfully moist, was flavorless. Help, anyone?

Birthday girl requested tostados for her lunch, “with refried beans out of a bag like in Guatemala.”

The kids were unanimous in their enthusiasm and have requested that we eat tostados on a regular basis. Sounds like a plan to me!

My younger son has been hounding me to let him cook. After putting him off for a couple weeks and reducing him to tears (shame on me), I finally allowed him to make a cake.

He was beyond proud, and the cake was a smashing success.

This same time, years previous: the quotidian (7.20.15), a tale of two children, statements, all partied up, whole wheat zucchini bread, in my kitchen, homemade shampoo, zucchini parmesan frittata, and salvation’s chocolate chip cookies.

This same time, years previous: zucchini fritters, ouch, apricot pie, this new season, Saturday nights, roasted carrot and beet salad with avocado, in the woods, the quotidian (7.16.12), roasted beet salad with cumin and mint, Jeni’s best ever vanilla ice cream, and in the pits.