weekending

it was a weekend of dates.

thursday evening i attended the highly acclaimed disgraced. 

perhaps, a little too highly acclaimed, and yet i enjoyed the night out with a friend fully.

the characters felt flat, inauthentic and the plot contrived, but the company shined.

friday i had another date for another performance.

jess came over beforehand to help doll lily up for her valentine's dance.

she's beautiful every day, but i think she really felt it this night.

jess did her nails, her hair, her face, and saved my skin.

then we headed to the pabst to see the empress of soul, gladys knight.

we were an hour early so we used our time wisely to people watch and drink wine.

it was quite a crowd and a great show.

the highlights for me were some of the covers she sang like stay with me, and of course, midnight train to georgia.

jess liked landlord (wink wink).

after the show, we walked to elsa's for a snack and to see the collection of neon hearts.

we came home to find that lily won the grand door prize: a giant teddy bear...just what she needed.

and also that teddy had fun at work...yes, fun.
of course, within 24 hours he was talking about quitting his job.
oye ve.

saturday i was rather tired and lazy so i spent the day relaxing, reading, and catching up on a few shows.

we picked teddy up after work at 8:30 and headed out for a late family dinner.

it was a supreme evening despite the fact that the pizza napoletana was not quite as good as we recalled from our last visit.

sunday we had another family date at church, and it was, perhaps, the best of the weekend.

then lily and i headed to the oriental to see the much anticipated film, the lion.

it was the most moving movie i've seen in years.

i loved it so much that i came home and ordered long way home stat.

i'm hopeful it'll be a worthy successor to a little life which i am still pacing my way through.
i have but 100 skinny pages left.

mike grilled burgers for dinner at teddy's request.

we all enjoyed them though.

we all enjoyed it all as a matter of fact.

On My Mind Monday

Having children has provided their adulthood with an instant and nonnegotiable sense of purpose and direction: they decide the length and location of that year's vacation; they determine if there will be any leftover money, and if so, how it might be spent; they give shape to a day, a week, a year, a life. Children are a kind of cartography, and all one has to do is obey the map they present to you on the day they are born.

Hanya Yanagihara

A Little Life

Grateful Friday

In pictures...

Peek a boo Tigger.

Sweet dreams Peanut.

My shadow.

More slime.

 No more braces.

 Another sunrise.

My little life.

weekending

the weekend was punctuated by equal parts sun and shade both literally and figuratively.

i know it didn't help that neither lily or i were feeling 100 percent.

but the truth is i cannot put it all off on physical ailments.

and really they pale in comparison to emotional upsets.

friday mike and i watched the light between oceans and both liked it lots.

it actually exceeded my expectations and was a rare case of appreciating the movie more than the book.

ted was busy much of the weekend with 2 shifts at work, an afternoon of volunteering and then hanging out with friends in his spare time.

lily spent time with friends at theaters and malls.

typical teen and tween life.
well, he's the only one of his friends who has a job, but i digress.

saturday we had dinner with some family.

it wasn't the best night.

i got stuck on some passing comments.

i left feeling sad.

i woke even sadder.

i really needed church on sunday morning, but my cough was relentless and so mike and i walked all around the city while lily attended sunday school instead.

it was cold and gray and punishing, and exactly what i needed.

then jess came for the super bowl baring spring flowers and red wine,

but she really came for dinner because we didn't much care for the game or the commercials.

in fact, i dozed through most of it.

i attribute my sleepiness to a combo of cold head and food coma (and wine).

mike grilled the most delicious ribs for dinner, and i made coleslaw and parker house potatoes.

it was a feast.
i'm feeling a little better both emotionally and physically with each passing day.

On My Mind Monday

The only trick of friendship, I think, is to find people who are better than you - not smarter, not cooler, but kinder and more generous, and more forgiving - and then to appreciate them for what they can teach you, and try to listen when they tell you something about yourself, no matter how bad - or good - it might be, and to trust them, which is the hardest thing of all. But the best, as well.

Hanya Yanagihara

A Little Life

I'm treasuring this novel. The characters come alive. I feel like I know them, I can see them, and I'm rooting for them because while their bonds are thick, their lives are not always easy. I'm about halfway through the 700 some pages, but honestly it's taken restraint not to blow through it. Rumor has it that this one leaves you with a major book hangover and I've got nothing to parallel it in my cue so I'm trying to take my time.

I suppose it's no coincidence that I've been thinking a great deal about friendship lately. What it looks like to be a good friend. How it feels. I've had a couple major disappointments on that front. One friend continually disappoints me, but is such a part of my history, and another who really had me fooled. One saddens me and the other maddens me. I've also got some real gems though...strong and bright and shiny. One of them brought me these flowers the other day. I almost put tulips in my cart earlier in the day, and then I didn't. But if I had, they would have been yellow.

Grateful Friday

Today I give thanks for...

Although Lily is feeling better, she woke up this morning with a red and crusty eye. That sent us to the doctor for meds because eye infections are nothing to mess around with. I'm sure she'll be ready for school and swimming come Monday. Fingers crossed.

Having health insurance even though it covers less and less and costs more and more. The prescription for her antibiotic was $158. I knew we could find something just as effective for a fraction of the cost. The pharmacist was patient, the rep from my insurance company helpful and the doctor's office compliant. She ended up with a drug in the same class for $5. Yes, it took over an hour, but if we don't advocate for our care and speak out against this kind of nonsense, it only gets worse. We lose more control and everything gets more expensive.

We spent the day together. I was a cold head mess too so we got our favorite lunches (Qdoba for her and tuna with peas for me) and snuggled in to watch a movie. We decided on Sully, and and it was a pretty good choice. It seemed short and the ending abrupt, but then I did stop it in the middle to pick up Ted.

That I was able to pick up Ted since he had to work at 4 o'clock. He gets home about a half hour earlier if I pick him up so that gives him more time to chill. He went straight from work to his friends house with his favorite buffalo chicken bites so I don't think work is affecting anything except his time playing PS4.

Comfort food. When I was sick, my mom would make me soft boiled eggs. I made myself a 6 minute egg the other morning and it made me feel better.

Good enough, in fact, to head out for a fast, brisk walk. It started to snow about midway through my miles and that was just fine by me. I was listening to a Moth podcast and I could have walked all afternoon.

 I found out there are regular story slams in my city. I'm definitely going to one. I don't think I'll commit to throwing my name in the hat yet, but maybe at some point although just writing that gives me heart palpitations.

The days are getting longer. The change of seasons is not something I usually embrace. In fact, I find any nature of change difficult, but I'm trying to be more open to it because it is so obviously out of my control.

  

A dinner date with my guy the other night. We went to a little pasta place we haven't been to in like 20 years and everything was wonderful: the time, the food, the wine. We haven't had pasta in at least 30 days so it was a treat. My scallops were the best I've had in as long as I can remember, and Mike's mushroom bolognese was rich and flavorful. The flourless chocolate cake I brought home for the kiddos and just had to sample was also a delight. There were little things we could have been annoyed about, but we decided that we were out enjoying the night and life was good.

My little stack of reads.

My reading buddy.

Another quiet weekend ahead. I love that about this time of year because it's easy to be in the moment not planning something or preparing for something. There's no yard work, or shopping or decorating.

First of February

It's February first. I cannot believe how quickly the calendar changes. I'm noticing that the sun is rising earlier and setting later. Slowly and then all at once it seems the days lengthen, the season passes, everything changes. The showy sky caught my eye this morning as I came down the stairs to a still shadowless house. I could see the day breaking bright in the east so I went outside in the cold with bed head and bare feet to take a picture. 

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Lily's home sick for the second day this week. She didn't miss a single day of school last year. She really didn't want to miss a day this year either. Both mornings she got up and ready before realizing she needed to go back to bed. It wasn't an easy decision. When I got home yesterday, she was doing her homework. She went on the portal to get her assignments without a single prod. I just hope she feels better tomorrow, and that she's always this responsible.

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This week it was decided that Ted needs to get himself up in the morning. He has two alarms: a clock and a phone. So far he hasn't been successful. Last night he actually set an alarm, but he slept through it this morning. I guess one could call that progress. He starts his job tonight. My thoughts on this are complicated. It's a rite of passage. I'm proud that he'll earn his own money, learn responsibility and strengthen his work ethic, but I'm also melancholy that he's giving up so much of his free time. He's still a kid, and I want him to act like one. No mixed messaging going on here. Add to that the fact that I think it's going to be a bit of a rude awakening. He earned $30 shoveling our neighbor's driveway and walk yesterday. That took him about 5 minutes. You do the math. In fact, he went to do it sweaty straight after a workout in shorts and t shirt and didn't even have time to get cold. Let's just say that his hourly wage for bagging groceries is much much less. Also he's got 3 shifts...15 hours this week. That seems like a lot to me. I just hope it's not too much.

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Of them all, it was the true love. Of them all, it was the best. That other, that sumptuous love which made one drunk, which one longed for, envied, believed in, that was not life. But to be close to a child, for whom one spent everything, whose life was protected and nourished by one's own, to have that child beside one, at peace, was the real, the deepest, the only joy.

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I still have Salter on my mind. Or more like Viri and Nedra. I don't think parental love is the best or only. I just think it's the most organic and fierce. All of love is quite awesome.

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There are plenty of things I should do today. I'm pretty sure that reading, signing on here, cooking, and editing pictures are diversion tactics from the real work in my purview. I'm almost an expert procrastinator, but you should see these crustless quiche I made for the rest of the week, the perfect 6 minute egg I enjoyed for this morning's breakfast, that morning sunrise I exulted. I'm so very easily distracted, and yet I often prefer to see that as a good thing thank you. The sun is out exposing all the dust bunnies in the corners. I know spring is coming because the boys are shedding like mad. I should clean, but the temperature is much warmer than it will be the next couple of days so I think a long walk is in order. Perhaps a Moth podcast or two.Then maybe I'll vacuum before I make Lily something comforting to eat and Teddy something hearty to tide him over until a late dinner after work. Taking care of this house and my family brings me more joy than one woman deserves. This I tell you is one of the only things I know for sure day in and day out, no matter the season.