The Sandwich Life

Random Notes from the Sandwich Life

1. Texts with Owen.

2. Our summer 2018 grilled chicken is dusted with Old Bay seasoning (naturally low FODMAP!), salt, and pepper, and cooked an hour in a covered charcoal grill. Ernie turns the chicken halfway through...not over, but side to side. It ends up perfect every time. We usually do a lot of whole chickens but we've been buying big packages of chicken thighs as they are cheap, and leave lots left over for various band members who might be scouring the kitchen at some point. Owen has always said he didn't like chicken thighs...but we have converted him.

Last night I was craving the sort of mineral-ly tast of spinach, so I sauteed a big thing of it in a dash of olive oil, and once it was wilted, tossed it with some leftover rice until it was warm. It almost outshone Ernie's chicken. I also experimented with avocado and cucumber to no great success, but the avocado was nice and fresh and creamy despite that. Bad flash picture ahead.

3. End of summer flowers.

4. In excellent news, Hattie continues to be perky and is quite enthralled with some of the canned food. Not all, I mean she has her standards, but some of it. Rascal just looks at us wistfully. 

5. After a day of feeling not too bad, I woke up shaking and with weird head/dizzy sensations. A quiet day perhaps.

Onward.

16

Me: I KNOW you think you're THIRTY YEARS OLD

Owen: Well, I DO

Me: But you are SIXTEEN

Owen: But people TELL  me I'm an old soul

Me: But you are SIXTEEN

This went on for awhile. Finally we both sighed, and I said, "Oh, for God's sake, get me a glass of wine, I deserve it." He came back in holding the shameful box while the last of it trickled into a goblet. I said, "I hate you." He said, "Well, why are you laughing?"

Onward.

Hattiegirl Rides Again

I must say, I was pretty anxious taking Hattie to the vet yesterday. The good news is that she is doing pretty good. She HAS lost of a lot of weight, and she did have to be liberated of ungodly big balls of poop. The poor thing...and poor Dr. Mary of course. The issue of course, is figuring out how she got that way, and seeing if we can get some weight back on her. Her various tests and x-rays looked surprisingly good however for a little old lady. We've got some cat laxative stuff for her, and some antibiotics, as her white blood count was high. She let her displeasure be known during the procedure. Good Lord but that cat can make some godawful noises. When the tech brought her back in the room, she said, "We'll just let her relax in her carrier, she was showing her true tortie colors. Heh, I do love that cat. 

$300 some bucks later, we have a much happier cat. She is worth every penny of course, and god knows Dr. Mary and company deserve all that and more, but OUCH. And so the credit card debt grows. BUT....last night Hattie was herself again, drinking water, and even eating some canned food, which we had been trying to tempt her with to no avail. She also spent part of the evening curled up in her cat carrier, and today, has often spotted sitting on it. I don't know if this is her way of claiming dominance over it...but whatever it is....I like it.

My Hattiegirl.

Please ignore dining room table covered with laundry and things for Goodwill...and untucked slipcover of chair. Focus on Hattie, please.

Disclaimer

Please note: I write this blog for the pleasure of retelling portions of my life to friends near and far, known and unknown. As much as I spill so many details of my life, this is edited. If you are looking for any kind of formal assessment of me, or my health, please contact me directly.

Random Notes from the Sandwich Life

1. I spent a good chunk of yesterday looking at realtor.com for houses in Lubec, Maine. One can dream.

2. Hattie does not seem to be doing well. We are going to see Dr. Mary later this afternoon, but I am very worried.

3. I was so exhausted from my outing to see Owen's band that I slept until noon the next day and was still tired. I need to try to get out of the house more.

4. A few pictures from the other night. Two of my favorite bass players: the great Roy Bad Axford, and David Krecji, otherwise known to our family as Guthrie (remember the dream I had that we had a third son and named him Guthrie?). Oh, and a cute Owen in the background...probably talking to Sue.

Extra points to Roy for the t-shirt. Remember....if it ain't Stiff....

And here...my own Taxi Boy, a Vertebrat, and Noah Axford, who manages to be the only dignified one.

This picture in honor of Dave's hair in mid-throw.

And onward. Send good thoughts for Hattie.

Taxi Boys and a Brat: The Circles of Life Tighten Again

Another Taxi Boys gig in the books on Friday night. I thought it was one of their best shows...they seemed confident and like they were having fun. They were missing numerous strings by the end of the set but they just kept going. So perfect.

Friday Night Live was actually cancelled because of the weather, but they were able to move inside Exile to play. Leo drove us and we stopped at Fries and Peanuts first, saw some friends and had a drink. When we got over to Exile my beloved Teri McCarthy immediately found me a stool to sit on. THANK  YOU. I could not have have stood that long. It was good to see lots of friends. I was really touched that some of them made it out to this.

I was chatting a bit to my friend Nancy, and she was saying good luck keeping this one on track in school this year. We laughed, and then, as we watched, Owen leaned back, tipped his head up, and did a guitar solo. I leaned over and shout-whispered in here ear, "I am SO FUCKED." She laughed in agreement. Lord help me, but man, he's got such passion. I am so proud of him.

I was beyond happy because our beloved Roy Axford, and his son, Noah, were there...so I got to watch Owen sing the Vertebrats' Left In the Dark in front of a Vertebrat. Life is fucking good sometimes. 

 

I like this picture of Owen because you can see the arched window frame behind him, and a bit of the Lincoln Building beyond that. A very CU picture.

I love this one because you can see the broken string hanging....he just kept playing and still sounded great.

Thanks to Roy Axford for the video, and to Richard Hill for the photos! 

Random Notes from the Sandwich Life

1. The Taxi Boys will be playing Friday Night Live in downtown Champaign tomorrow evening. They will be performing in front of Exile on Main Street, at 7:00 pm, following the Urbana High A Capello group. Or, as Owen put it on the Taxi Boys Facebook page:

Don’t miss out ladies and gentlemen!
A fun Friday night with A+ Urbana voices and A- rock n roll!
Check your report cards and come say Hi!

I plan to be there. I told Owen I wasn't sure if I could stand for the whole set. Ernie suggested bringing a folding chair. I looked at Owen, and asked him if he'd be embarrassed. He looked at me apologetically, and said, "Well, honestly, yeah." We giggled and I told him I'd figure it out. My sweet pea. 

2. I'm worried about Hattie. I think she's lost more weight and she's having anal gland issues, even though she just went to the vet last week. We're trying to get her to eat some different food, but I am concerned. She the only other female in the house for God's sake. I should close her out of the bedroom at night but I can't bear to. So, we wash the sheets a lot. We just gave her a bath, the poor thing.... Now she is assuaging her hurt feeling by ignoring us, and cleaning herself. That was the plan though, so I'm ok with it.

3. Yesterday, as we walked to the car for an appointment, I admired our sunflowers swaying in the sun. One of the brown sunflowers had two Monarch butterflied on it. Of course they flew off before I could take a picture. Ernie said he'd been watching one on a flower the other day, and while it nibbled away, its wings just very slowly flapped open and closed. He said it looked as though it were purring. And with that...I thought how much I loved my husband....that he could see a butterfly and think it was purring.

I still love to watch him....even if he's doing something like checking in for his oncologist appointment.

Here's the medication wrapper on the floor, as the nurse kneels to give him his injection.

4. Yesterday evening we were watching the last of our latest binge (Succession). I commented on the music at one point, and said, "There's one point in this when it reminds me of...." and he interrupted and said, "The Polar Express." And we laughed because we know each other so freaking well. I enjoyed the show...I think some of the dialogue was a tad overwrought and good GOD how many times can they say 'fuck off.' I realized, after considering this, that it sounded weird to me, because, IF I were to utter such a thing, I would be more apt to go with 'fuck YOU.' 

5. Zinnia season. 

A Rainy Night and Tour Report

I adore rainy nights. Despite the spot upstairs where the roof leaks, and our wet basement, I just love them. Ernie and I curled up, watched our latest binge (Succession on Hulu) and listened to the boys talking in the living room. They were reporting to each other on their weekends and Owen was tuning his drumheads or something like that. It was rather loud, but Ernie and I enjoyed it, looking over every so often to smile at one another when he heard the guys laughing at each other.

When Owen got home from school earlier that day we had a bit of a chat about why he had been hours late coming home on Sunday night. He had gone to Springfield, Missouri to play on Saturday night...not the Taxi Boys, but a band he drums in, Simpleton and Co. I was, of course, more than a bit nervous about the whole thing, but we let him go. I had been pissed however, when, after being told I wanted him home by 8:00 pm at the latest, he called (after I had texted his friend since Owen wasn't answering) to say they were just about to walk up to the St. Louis arch. I was not pleased. When they finally got home, Ernie woke me up and I just said, "tell himI love him," because I was not up to anything else. So when he got home after school I thought it was a good time to discuss this. As always, Owen manages to squirm out of things by being totally honest and just repentant enough to make yourself throw up your hands. He said, "Honestly Mom, you were just so far away, I kinda figured what could you do, and I really wanted to see the arch with the guys, but I'm really sorry if that upset you" I said, "Yeah, that's exactly what I THOUGHT you were thinking." I told him I would try to set clearer expectations next time, and he sucked up appropriately. Geez.

I asked him how the trip had been, and after talking about the show and how he screwed up some of the songs, Taco Bell at 3:00 am, and other notes, he talked about the drive. "Man, St. Louis is a GHOST TOWN! There is nobody there and the building are all empty. It was terrible!" I tilted my head and said, "Hmmm, really? I love St. Louis. Where were you?" He blithely said, "Well, we missed our turn off so I saw a sign for East St. Louis so we took that because I figured that was part of St. Louis."

OMFG

"You went to EAST ST. LOUIS? THAT'S NOT ST. LOUIS! THAT'S ONE OF MOST DANGEROUS CITIES. It's been called the MURDER CAPITOL of the country and things like that." He started laughing and said, "Oh, well that makes sense. There were some really scary people there, but there were some great ghost signs Mom." In fact evidently they were there when I had texted and said to send me a picture. He obliged. I must admit, the boy does know me. I told him I greatly appreciated the fact that he had NOT stopped to take pictures of the ghost signs.

He rambled on, increasing my blood pressure. "Yeah, there were was one weird guy that kept smiling at us but I think he was on something.  We saw bikers too, I don't mean retired guys with bikes, but real BIKERS. There was some scary shit."

And with that I sigh, and say: Onward

 

 

Thing Number One Has Best Day Ever

And with that, I have a college student. I promised Leo this would be the last first day of school picture ever. He agreed, as long as we were fast, because he had to GO. So off he goes to Parkland, after that off to work.

Over the weekend he drove to Minneapolis to see a DJ set by his all time favorite band, Pendulum. I was of course a bit nervous about it all, but he was good and checked in to let me know he got there safely, etc. The best part was when he texted me at 2:14 in the morning. It made me so happy to hear that it had been great. I've never been so happy to be woken up at 2:14 in the morning.

Here's a video he did of some clips from the night. Click on it and read his description of it all for an even better report on his night. My heart is so happy.

 

And So It Goes

Thing Number Two putters off to his junior year. He was stoic, and noted that he'd had a really good summer.