I get to put in seeds and plants in the yard today.
We have no plans for today other than getting Owen to his guitar lesson.
I'm going to experiment with French green lentil recipes today.
I have too many packets of seeds but that's not a bad problem.
We bought smoked pork chops from Triple S at the farmers' market this morning.
And a poblano pepper plant.
And sugar snap peas.
And asparagus.
And strawberries.
And swiss chard.
And celery.
I'm reading a good book.
As much as I want to the weekend to go slowly...I won't mind too much when Monday comes around.
Each and every one of my boys is beautiful and sweet and they all smell good too.
I had a dream last night that Bobby Flay cooked dinner for me and a bunch of friends. It was a nice dream because in the dream he was a friend of Judi's and we talked about her a lot and looked at pictures of her and my grandparents and he made some of her favorite foods in memory of her.
Rod Picott is going to be here this Friday.
The air feels good.
The world's friendliest roofers are working on the house next door.
Tomorrow is Mothers' Day and Owen is planning to cook dinner for me.
I don't know what Leo is going to do but I know I'll get his sweet smile and a hug.
The spot where things hang in the correct balance is SUCH a small one.
Last night Ernie picked me up from work and we headed over to Krannert Center. They were announcing the upcoming season's shows and there was free wine and food involved. I made the mistake of asking Ernie if he'd given the boys an early dinner. Suffice to say he hadn't, I thought he should have, he thought I was being a bitch and really....we were both right. Eventually he pulled over because he said he couldn't drive if I was going to yell at him. I wasn't yelling. Honest. At least I don't think I was. Eventually we got to KCPA and sat down. He got us both a glass of wine and I took a few sips and told him why I was cranky...that I was worried about A, frustrated with B and tired of C. We both started to relax. He got a little plate of food and let me eat his spanakopita which tasted good even though it was a tad soggy. Things started to feel more balanced.
He got us a second glass of wine and we listened to them run through all the plans for next season. The staff at Krannert Center are ridiculously good at what they do because for the price of some wine and food they got us wanting to buy a HELL of a lot more tickets than we would have otherwise. I kept thinking, "oh, Owen would love that" and "oh, we should take Owen to see THAT" and "well, Leo's just going to have to suck it up because I want to take them BOTH to that."
We won't be able to afford all the tickets we want but we'll get some and figure that's our Christmas present to each other or some other rationalization that I am so good at creating.
Good Lord I am tired this morning. Just could NOT sleep last night…it was hot and no matter what combination of bed, pillow and sheet I came up with, none of them were sleepworthy. I tried reading for a while and then the power went off in our room which it does sometimes. I nudged Ernie, who was sleeping, and told him the power had gone off because usually he can get it to go back on….but he just said sleepily, “sorry hon” and turned over. Sigh. I tried to sleep….waited for the Unisom to kick in….took one of the melatonin Unisoms on top of the others….no go.
I was having weird dreams about Johnny Thunders and photography books and I don’t know what else when the thunder woke me up this morning. Blegh.
We had a pretty nice weekend overall. Last night after dinner Owen and I were making shortbread in the kitchen. We realized we’d left the salt dish in the media room so he ran to get it and somehow knocked over the 1870’s goblet that Ernie had been using. Hysterical tears. At first Ernie and I looked at each other and thought “oh no, he’s broken the salt dish he bought in Maine” so we were actually relieved when we realized it was a goblet. Owen, though, was inconsolable. I tried my best to explain that things get broken and when we use antiques we’re taking a chance, but the pleasure of using them makes it worth it. “But that was Dad’s favorite goblet,” he sobbed. I told him it wasn’t Dad’s favorite and that we could find another one. He finally calmed down a little and we were trying to finish the shortbread. We continued talking about how things break and blah, blah, blah. Then I came up with the bright idea of telling him that the original salt dish he had bought in Maine had actually gotten broken but we’d found another one and replaced it and kept it a secret from him. I thought it would make him feel better.
It didn’t.
At all.
Very bad idea on my part.
Sigh.
Stupid mother.
Eventually both Owen and I were crying and I think Ernie and Leo wanted to shoot us both.
We pretty much recovered and let the boys stay up late while we watched Mad Men. Owen watched it with us (except when he left because he thought it was ‘inappropriate for him.’). He brought me a piece of shortbread. It was pretty good.
Sigh.
And I found a goblet on eBay just like the one that was broken. It should arrive in a few days.
1. The 4/5 Grade Musical is at Dr. Howard this afternoon. I am, of course, excited. Owen dressed accordingly (sorry about the fuzzy picture):
2. I'm going to stop worrying about Friday. At least I'll try.
3. I was really counting on having some bad weather last night. Very disappointing. Leo was very excited about, as he put it, "the possibility of tornadic activity." God I love that boy.
4. I'm trying SO hard to stop using two spaces after a period but it's very difficult.
5. Best souvenir from Memphis ever? A guitar shaped flyswatter (THANKS Amy):
6. My father's copy of Samuel Johnson's dictionary:
7. Leo's hair is getting VERY long. I asked him if he planned on cutting it and he just gave me one of those Leo shrugs.
8. At least the cool weather has slowed down the allium and peonies....
1. Good God....it's 11:32 already. Damn. Next thing I know it will be 3:00 and too late or to early to do anything we want to do. Thank you Sartre, and Ernie, for pointing that out.
2. Here are the flowers Owen bought me the other day. I put them on the bedside table so I can look at them as I read in bed. They made me love our new wall color more than ever.
3. This is not rye bread:
THIS is rye bread:
4. Leo has been sentenced to a week of 2 hours of hard labor a day. We made him weed the other day. He stomped out into the yard where we were and said, "I opened the door and there was a bee just STARING me in the face. I hate this...this....this OUTSIDE." God I love that boy. Right now he's polishing our woodwork. I asked him if he could misbehave more often as this is delightful. Ernie just asked him if he was having fun and he said, "no, not at all" and Ernie said, "yup, that's the point."
5. I broke a treaty and tickled Owen's armpits. He says this is war. Uh-oh.
6. O.k...I think the boys have cheered me up. That and the smell of the wood polish.
What was I THINKING having sex without birth control?
I ask you.
Sigh.
Last night before bed Owen dreamily explained to me that Ernie was a Mangel (man + angel). This morning he screamed at us for a lengthy period telling us that we don't understand him, are unfair and never believe him..and are jerks.
I said, "uh, yeah....but you still have to go to school."
Although hearing the rain throughout the night was lovely and the strand of lights on my fence that was out somehow came back on in the wind and rain. This made me VERY happy in the middle of the night when I looked out and saw it sparkling. I'm afraid, however, that Ernie did NOT seem to share in my excitement.
Hmph.
Thanks for the kind comments after the last post. I hope I don't seem as though I think I'm carrying a larger burden of grief than other people. Not at all---we all have grief of one kind or another...and it comes and goes. I just happen to spit mine out here---for better or worse. But thank you....kindness helps...as does the warm glow of the great music on Friday night....
The weekend ended rather graciously, if a weekend can do such a thing. The guys took showers so I got to smell them sweet and clean. We ate black beans and rice made with the ham bone from Easter and attempted to watch the Good Wife while Owen interrupted constantly. He tries REALLY hard not to but it's beyond his capabilities so he constantly begs us to pause it so we can answer his question and then we start it up again. It ended up taking us an hour and a half to watch it even speeding through commericals. Sigh. Then the lightning was in full swing--which Owen hates---so I hauled him upstairs with me and we curled up together and read books, listened to a little Rod Picott and the rain and fell asleep.
Our internet connection was in and out yesterday.....here is a rare shot of Leo existing without internet access....
Good day yesterday. Kind of a long day for some reason, but good. At least it felt long---I hadn't slept very well the night before. I worked and then Ernie picked me up and we stopped by to visit some dear friends that we haven't seen in WAY too long. He's just started chemo and so we talked about cancer and the goal that is 'living with cancer' and 'managing cancer.' That's not how we usually think of cancer---we usually think of fighting cancer, beating cancer...or else we think of dying from cancer. Yes, it would nice if it would just be gone...but that's not always reality so instead we live with it. Then we talked about kids losing teeth and politics and family and how long we've known each other. It was wonderful. I love them dearly. We got home and Owen still had a few questions left on his homework. May I just say that Owen and I and homework are not a good combination? I think I'm helpfully explaining and he immediately gets frenzied that he's not understanding it and thus doesn't listen to a thing I'm saying and then I get frustrated and....... Ay yi yi.... Fed him a quick dinner and then listened to him talk through an episode of the Good Wife which we were trying to watch. Ernie put Owen to bed as I fussed with making a late dinner for us. After Ernie came down I heard some suspicious thumping from upstairs and Ernie said, "oh yeah, Owen wanted you to come up and kiss him good night." I trudged upstairs to find a very sleepy Owen trying to read a book that was drooping from his hands. I set it down for him and he said, in a voice slow with sleepiness, "will you tell me something Mom?" I asked him what he wanted to hear and he said he didn't know. So I told him about when he was born. He likes to hear that story. I told him that they lifted him out of me and held him up so I could see him and his blonde hair was all wet from being inside me and it looked like little blonde dreadlocks...that he looked like a little baby surf punk. I told him that while they were sewing me up that they got him all cleaned up and put a little hat on him and wrapped him up tight like a little eggroll. By that time they'd rolled me back into my room and they brought him, all bundled up and laid him right next to me. He smelled delicious, like a little baked good. Owen interrupted me to say drowsily, " a baked good is like a muffin, right?" I told him yes and then I told him that when I looked down at him, my little eggroll bundle lying next to me, that all I could think was, "there's something special about Owen, there's something special about Owen." He smiled sleepily with closed eyes and said, "I love you Mom." I kissed his hand that lay near the edge of his bunk bed, told him I loved him too and went downstairs.
It was a good day, but I gotta say I think that was the very best part.
a younger me with no grey hair....and my little baked good
1. Did you know that if you toast sesame seeds and then pour them immediately into a plastic bag because you're trying to be efficient, that they will melt through the bag and end up all over your floor and counter? Yup.
2. We all know I'm a total David Olney geek. So the question is, should I be embarrassed at HOW delighted I was with the little shout out I got last night in his Fireside Chat? Granted it was a reprimand but it still did my heart good. Good lord but I love him. The two songs he did were great last night too. He did "Basketball" in honor of the lock-out - and the classic "Contender" in memory of Joe Frazier. Listen through to Contender---it will get your energy boosted way up there....
3. I don't as if I've ever seen the Japanese maples at Japan House SO red. They won't be here long....they're in the walled tea garden---open dawn to dusk. In a few weeks the tea garden will be closed for the winter so you should visit now.
4. Don't forget to RSVP for the Rod Picott/Amanda Shires show. You can use the link at the top right of this page to pay up. $20 ahead of time, $25 that night.
1. When we got our iPhones I let Owen have my beloved iPod touch that we used every evening to listen to music upstairs. He was very excited. A few days later he had a friend over, a new friend that had only been over a few times. They played with it some and then went downstairs. Then the other kid said he'd forgotten something upstairs. When he came back down he suddenly felt ill and wanted Ernie to drive him home. Now the iPod is missing. I hate to suspect this kid. Ernie, who is our official finder of missing things, has searched and searched. Owen is very sad...he loved to play XTC videos on it. Sigh. And they start at $200 bucks so I can't go buy him another one. All in all, whatever happened, it makes me sad. I miss it.
2. The gingkos along Lincoln Avenue are turning a blinding gold.
3. I think the only thing I've ever done with celery root is combine it with mashed potatoes. Any other ideas?
4. ROD PICOTT! Can't wait....remember....if YOU are reading this....then YOU are invited.
5. O.k., o.k., now you must watch this one. It's Rod and Amanda doing Angels and Acrobats---watch til the end though when Rod goes into his story about Amanda's dress. This will be a VERY entertaining evening all....
6. By the way...continuing in the house concert vein....have I told you all that we have set the date for our 3rd ANNUAL KRISTI ROSE AND FATS KAPLIN CHRISTMAS SHOW? Woo-hooooooo! You are all invited. I'm making cassoulet again.... Oh, and for those of you that have a harder time with Fridays...this one is on a Saturday....December 17, 2011 to be exact....
7. I started this post earlier this week but yesterday I was felled with some bug. I think I slept something like 19 and a half hours out of 24. I kid you not, and yet I feel like I could go to sleep again.
8. Our house is more of a disaster than it ever has been. We're going to get our bathroom redone so the contents of the bathroom and its closet are spread over the dining room as we figure out what to keep and what to get rid of. Ernie's been painting the media room so all the furniture...and more importantly...all the CDs are spread all over our living room. Our kitchen is always a bit of a mess. So that leaves every single room on the first floor of the house a disaster. Oh, and yeah, and part of our patio fence blew down a week or so when we had high winds. Evidently it's all rotting at the base. And fences are so cheap to replace don't you know.
9. HowEVER....our new couch is being delivered today. Oh, and the media room? Guess what color we painted it?
You'll never guess!
White.
Yes, I know, it's shocking. Owen did not approve, he says he's going to miss the green a lot. When I mentioned to Leo that I thought it made it look bigger he said, "well, the furniture out of the room makes it look bigger, the white just makes it look brighter." Yes Leo. I do think it makes it look bigger though. It's kind of a dark room except for in the morning and it's small (it's just the old porch that was turned into a room) so I thought the white would help. I'm hoping the couch will look good in there..... I'll let you know.
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