Oct 29, 2016 | Uncategorized, What's going on |
Annabelle and I are, as they say, back on the road again.
Mom came up to visit us over the weekend and we drove back to Massachusetts together on Monday. If you’re thinking, “Wait. Didn’t you just visit your family last month?” the answer is yes we did. We’re ladies with wheels of our own and sometimes we hit the road. To be honest, after the summer of travel we had I had no (zero, zip, nada, zilch) plans to travel until Thanksgiving, but things came up so we packed the car and continued our new habit of living out of suitcases.
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| How Sesame feels about our endless travels. |
On Wednesday we went to visit my aunt. Her mother in law recently died and all her dishes, kitchenware, and artwork ended up in Carol’s house. Carol took what she wanted and offered the rest to me. I’m all about free kitchenware and decor so it was right up my alley. That’s how I ended up as the new owner of three round serving dishes, two rectangular trays, a cream and sugar set, a bowl and a water pitcher, all ornate silver. You know what doesn’t match anything in my house? The box of silver dishes I now own. You know what I’ll have to polish and keep clean? The box of silver dishes. It seemed like a good idea at the time.
This afternoon we went to a small farm with Grammy. I was flirting with a meltdown by going during nap time, but it was the only opportunity we had. Thanks to a herd of goats she couldn’t have been happier. Goats are a great distractor from dramatic crying. I could have used a few around after bath time tonight when the meltdown finally hit.
This is NOT how I look when walking into a corn maze. I swore off corn mazes a few years ago. I refuse to pay to get lost when I am fully capable of getting lost on my own for free. We got lost in a corn maze when I was pregnant and I was sure we’d be in there forever and I’d have the baby surrounded by corn stalks instead of nurses.
Even with the ribbons marking off the path she still got out before I did.
Tomorrow I’m making scones for breakfast and cookies for a snack. It’s important to replenish the calories I burnt wandering between corn stalks. Maybe I’ll serve them on a silver platter.
Oct 22, 2016 | Currently, Uncategorized, What's going on |
Planning: Annabelle and George’s wedding. It will be bubble themed. The other day Annabelle told me “I’m going to mawwy P’ince George.” My work here is done.
Reading: Eligible by Curtis Sittenfield. It’s a modern day Pride and Prejudice and the easiest book to read. One chapter was a whopping three sentences. I just picked up A Mother’s Reckoning by Sue Klebold, mother of a Columbine shooter. These books could not be more different.
Watching: Britain’s Poshest Nannies. One of my after college plans was to be a live-in nanny, preferably in an interesting location. My plans were altered when I got married at 21 but I still think it would have been fun. A few years ago I learned about a nanny college in Australia then more recently I heard of one in England. This documentary shows the process the girls at the English school go through to become nannies for upper class families, celebrities and even royals. It’s interesting to note that I watched it while we were babysitting Ivy and I was contemplating whether I really want another child or not. But sign me up to pay thousands of dollars a year to learn how to be the next nanny for Matt Damon’s children!
Surviving: grocery shopping in the rain. I HATE shopping in the rain, especially when I have Sesame.
Wondering about: toast. Talk to me about toast. What do you put on it? What’s your go-to topping? I love a warm piece of toast with melted butter. If I’m feeling a little fancy I add sugar and cinnamon. I’m open to all toast related suggestions for any meal. Does garlic bread count as toast? I could eat it every day for a week and still want more.
Listening to: AB talk. The other night she didn’t stop talking until after 11. ELEVEN PM. She expected me to answer and have a full conversation with her. I was trying to sleep so I had no interest in discussing the new princess on Sofia the First. She talks nonstop. I think it’s payback from when I was her age.
Having weird dreams about: Christopher taking me with him to Fallujah. Apparently he was deployed there and I decided to go all to see the sites. I was uncomfortable sleeping inside the Humvee so they attached the back of a pickup to the back of the humvee and I made myself a bed and slept out there. My mattress kept falling off and I got so annoyed I decided to stay behind on the side of the road. Eventually Christopher came back to get me and brought with him a souvenir- a garlic garland for the mantle! I’ve always wanted to decorate with garlic! If only it had been a real dream I could have used it to make myself some nice garlic bread.
Oct 18, 2016 | Uncategorized, What's going on |
Good news! We have heat again. The repair men spent all Friday morning installing a new furnace, just in time for us to have a weekend where the high was 74* and Christopher turned on the ac. We made the most of the time we didn’t have heat by bundling up and wearing our crowns.
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| We take crown practice very seriously. |
We had a pretty lowkey weekend. I know we come across as the life of any party, but Christopher was in bed by 9:37 Friday night. I stayed up until 10 because I’m the real party animal in our relationship. Saturday we went to a paint your own pottery place then came home and painted pumpkins. Annabelle took the opportunity to paint herself as well because why not?
Sesame Pie has a cold and bad cough so we’ve been doing a lot of lounging. I’m too embarrassed to admit the number of shows she watched yesterday. She felt awful and my head was killing me, despite the 14 painkillers I took and sometimes you just have to get through the day. It’s not everyday you see a sick girl wearing dinosaur feet.
Annabelle has gotten so funny. I love hearing what she’ll say next. Friday night we were eating tacos and Christopher ate part of AB’s shell. She starting looking for it and when I told her where it went she said, “I am APPALLED.” I’d be appalled too if someone ate my taco without asking!
Today a man came by who walked around the yard taking pictures of our house. I don’t know him and had never seen him before. I have a long history of hiding from unwanted guests/repairmen/vacuum salespeople so this wasn’t new territory for me. I snapped into action. I flattened myself against the wall so he wouldn’t see me then scooted around to be sure the doors were locked. I put away a few toys on the way through the living room because if he was going to murder us I didn’t want to leave a messy house as my last act. I picked up the nearest item in case I needed to defend us (overly dramatic party of one!). Normally my weapon of choice is a bat, but this time I grabbed what was closest:
A MINI COLANDER. Because that will do a lot. “You’re about to attack us? Let me just throw this flimsy thing over your hand. That will stop you!”
Call me for all your self defense needs!
Sep 23, 2016 | Uncategorized, What's going on |
subtitled- more never-ending documentation of my health issues
After the success of MDO on Tuesday I spent some time considering how we’d spend the rest of the week. It’s hard to top the excitement of riding a plastic car around the playground but I was going to try. Lucky for me the germs decided to visit and dictate how my days would go.
On Monday I pulled and/or pinched something in my neck and shoulder area. It was awful. I spent a good part of the week applying huge IcyHot patches, wrapped in the heating pad and popping ibuprofen like candy. I imagine this is what it’s like to be 96. It was very glamorous. Just when I got to the point where I could look to the left without turning my whole body, I came down with either a head cold due to allergies and/or an ear and sinus infection. I’m not new to the ear infection world so I feel confident in that self-diagnoses. I called the doctor to make an appointment this morning and the nurse told me it’s “too early” to make an appointment. If I’m still having pain on Monday I can come in. She even said “I have an toothache right now and it’s making my ear hurt but I don’t have an ear infection.” I really wanted to say ”THIS IS ABOUT ME NOT YOU” but I didn’t. I’ve lived with myself for a long time now, I think I know when something is off. I’m taking every medication I can think of to make my face feel normal and stop the stabbing pain in my ear. I ventured into the world of Dayquil & Nyquil and let me tell you that it is delightful. I took some last night and fell right asleep. I was overjoyed when I discovered not one, not two, but seven bottles of Day and Nyquil on our extras shelf. I don’t know how we ended up with so many but I’m not complaining.
(Isn’t this riveting to read? I hope I get an award for it.)
Speaking of being 96 years old, I once again forgot how old I am. Last year I firmly believed I was going to turn 25 on my birthday. I was going to turn 26. Two days ago I had to ask Christopher how old I am and he said “I don’t know.” Why does he not know the age of his only and favorite wife? When I realized I’m 27 and not 26 I had a moment. It was really tragic. Christopher told me that “this needs to stop happening and you need to keep track of your age.” Such a comfort in my time of distress. If it wasn’t going to change every year I’d tattoo my age on my arm.
Annabelle has had some moments of her own this week. She’s started the time honored toddler tradition of crying over nothing. She cried because I went to the cellar without her. She cried because I had to turn on the tv in order for her to watch a show.
She’s had some good moments too. Yesterday I was warming up leftover chicken for lunch and she wandered over to investigate. She asked if I was making “chicken fums (thumbs).” I had no clue what she was talking about but she kept repeating it. Then I realized she meant chicken fingers. This afternoon I asked what she wanted to do and she said “I just gonna go write my blog.” I imagine her blog would look something like this:
I wanted some chicken fums today but all Mom had was regular chicken. Think I’ll go cry about it.
Sep 19, 2016 | Uncategorized, What's going on |
Annabelle is at such a fun age for new activities. She feeds off enthusiasm and since I get very into little things she follows suit. She is always telling us she’s “so ‘cited!” about things. A few weeks ago I found a local event called Bufflemania at a local science museum. We are big bubble fans so I immediately bought tickets.
We talked about it for weeks. I showed her pictures from previous years which showed bubbles galore. Every day she said “I so ‘cited for Bubblemania! I go tomorrow!” It was a Big Event.
I’m here to tell you that it was a flop. Or maybe more accurately, a pop. There was a small children’s area with water tables and bubbles and another room with flashing lights and glowing bubbles. That’s about it. Even the BubbleBot robot that seemed so cool on paper was just a glorified remote control car operated by a couple of high school boys. I know nothing about building robots so I’m not saying I could have done better, but I expected more than four bubbles to come out. But AB enjoyed herself for a while which is all that matters. When she got bored at the water table we explored the rest of the museum. I thought she’d be interested in the fake taxidermy animals but instead she was scared of them. Christopher showed her some artifacts and ancient drums which very briefly held her attention before she started saying she wanted to see something else. It filled up a few hours of our day but I don’t think we’d go again. We can have more bubbles to play with and eat for free without leaving our house.
Last night when Annabelle went to bed I taught Christopher how to sew a pillowcase. We started the project two months ago so clearly we shouldn’t open an Etsy shop or anything that requires sticking to a strict time schedule. His cutting skilz need a little work but overall he did well. The pillow fit into the pillowcase so I’d say it was a job well done. The fabric does not match any of the seven carefully selected throw pillows on our bed, but it’s his pillow so it lives on his side of the bed and I try not to think about it.
The next two days are big for us. Tomorrow after music class the teacher planned an ice cream party. Annabelle is bursting with excitement. Like her mother she loves a good party and she can’t believe that someone would have a whole party dedicated to ice cream. Tuesday is her first day of MDO. She can’t stop talking about how she’s going to school.
She’s “bery cited” for both events. I might need to eat some ice cream so I don’t cry when dropping her off.
Sep 9, 2016 | Currently, Uncategorized, What's going on |
Reading: Tattoos on the Heart by Gregory Boyle. Five stars all around. It’s so so good. Waiting in the wings are Bebe Day by Day and Sunday’s with Tiffany. I thought I’d get through all three books on vacation but I read all of one paragraph.
Making: zoodles. I love regular pasta with all my heart and soul, but I’m trying to be more healthy and that requires sacrifice. Two nights ago I stuck some zucchini in the spiralizer and cranked out some fake noodles. My Italian ancestors were turning over in their graves. It made my soul weep a little. The finished product wasn’t as fabulous as regular pasta but it wasn’t too bad either. The experimental meal last night was a sausage and vegetable paella with cauliflower “rice” instead of real rice. It was not spectacular. That’s what I get for cheating on the fried rice from Asian Star. This eating healthy nonsense better pay off in the slimming waistline department. If not I’ll be back to my real fried rice and nightly Klondike bars. Just kidding. I’ll be back to my Klondike bars and Lindor truffles either way.
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| How pasta makes me feel. |
Disagreeing: with Christopher. I say that when necessary, having the windows open during the day allows some breeze in the house, even if it’s a warm breeze. He says that only works if it’s cooler outside than inside, otherwise all I’m doing is letting hot air in. I said regardless of the temperature of the air it’s still creating airflow which we NEED, since our air conditioner isn’t working. It’s been so stuffy in here we can barely breath. We’re sweating bullets. He also stated that fans don’t cool down a room, they only cool you off if you’re in front of it, creating the illusion that the room is cooler. He pulled up six websites “proving his point.” Apparently he’s “stating facts” and “actual science.” Science, shmience. One site featured a fan in a cooler complete with a graph. Who puts a fan in a cooler? That’s doesn’t make sense at all. I don’t care what the Internet says. I’m stating what I know FROM REAL LIFE EXPERIENCE. I have every downstairs window open and a fan on right now and the breeze is great.
Annoyed with: our broken AC.
Unpacking from/repacking for: the beach/a trip to Georgia. I know you’re thinking, “Didn’t you just take a trip? Why are you always leaving?” Yes we did and I don’t know. If only I got paid per mile traveled I could afford a trip to a tropical location. We’ll only be in Georgia for two nights but I packed 9 necklaces. I like to be prepared for all situations.
(Update: Christopher just came in and said it’s really hot in our house. Somehow he missed the FABULOUS cross-current and airflow and fan positioning I spent half the morning working on. #men.)
Buying: maroon skinny jeans. I’ve never owned colored jeans before so this is a big fashion leap. The store was having a good sale so I also bought a dark gray pair. I’m trying to be a cool mom so AB won’t be embarrassed when she’s seen with me.
Internally crying over: my ever increasing pants size. Why don’t they have normal sized people working in clothing stores? I need someone with a little muffin top to unlock the dressing room door, not a woman wear size -4 pants and giant eyelashes. It’s not good for my self esteem.
Picking up: pompoms. All day every day. Annabelle is obsessed with them and dumps them out the minute she comes downstairs in the morning. I’m counting my blessings that it’s not styrofoam. That stuff sends me straight to Crazytown.
I’m off to have a super healthy supper of dandelion greens and lima beans.
NOT.
I’m making BLT’s with extra B.
