Girl's Day Out

Yesterday I had a date with just my girl. After we deposited T. Bone and three of his friends at the ski hill, we embarked on our own special itinerary planned by one eager Miss Bit.  My Dad is the king of the list.  When the kids come for a visit, he has them write lists of everything they want to do.  Then he does his best to make sure they cross off as many wants as humanly possible.  When they return home, he crashes for a couple days.  He's kind of a legend.

I spend a lot of time with Miss Bit these days...more than I spend with T. Bone because he is a tween with a social calendar busier than mine...but there was something special about yesterday.  Maybe it was the decadence of a whole day...the fact that it was a holiday, but only for some...or the carefully considered plans we made.  The truth is that I enjoy spending time with Miss Bit no matter what is on our agenda.

Our first stop was World  Market, one of her most favorite browsing places.  It's one of my guilty pleasures too. She scored some candy, worry dolls and colored pencils and then skipped all the way back to the car.  It is all about the little things with this girl.  Little things and sugar.  She broke open the mini sour belts as soon as we were strapped in and insisted I try one.  I am not a fan of gelatinous super sweet candy, but I knew that sharing them with me...introducing me to something new and delicious...made it all the more happy for her so I ate more than one.  I was thankful when she sealed up the bag declaring we could not ruin our appetites for lunch: our next stop.

We met Coach at a new to her restaurant we knew she would approve of.  She had her standing order: chicken tenders and fries with ranch and ketchup, and a lemonade.  The burgers were good too.    

Coach reluctantly went back to work while we headed to the public museum.  It was a little crowded given the holiday, but we navigated the exhibits like pros.  She wanted to see everything and she likes to take her time doing so.  T. Bone, on the other hand, treats a visit to the museum like a 5K so it was nice to be on the same speed.  We held hands and explored Africa, the Arctic, the Rain Forest, the Ice Age and the Living Sea.  We viewed Pirates and both learned some fascinating things one of which: that I suck at tying knots. We headed to a matinee of To The Arctic.  After the show she decided she wants her very own polar bear cubs, and I definitely want to travel to Alaska more than ever.

Our final stop was the much anticipated butterfly exhibit.  Finally, a butterfly landed on my girl.  I knew we were not getting out of that 90 degree exhibit with 100 percent humidity until one did.  Unfortunately, the first one landed on her back.  I took this picture to show her, but she wasn't budging until one of the winged beauties landed on her hand.

    Fortunately...one did. 

She was smitten and now she wants butterflies too.  Shhh, but I'd even get this girl a unicorn if that's what she really wanted.

We closed the museum and still didn't get to see everything she wanted to.  I assured her there are more museum visits in her future.  She's already planning her next choice day.

After dinner we curled up in my bed holding hands to watch The Bachelor.  Yes I watch this show and no I cannot believe I am admitting that I do.  No I don't usually, as in ever, let her watch it, but neither one of us wanted our day to end.  Anyways she closes her eyes whenever they get smoochy, and it was hometown visit night so there was very little romance this week.

At the end of the night we curled up in her bed until she fell asleep.

Yesterday it was all me and my girl.  Today it is me and my guy(s). 

2 day pass

after a long holiday weekend, today marks the official start of the new week for the kids.
it was tough to rally the troops this morning.
t. bone had an stiff, sore neck after snowboarding all day yesterday.
miss bit just had a sore heart longing for one more day together.
i am already missing her too.
with t. bone snowboarding the day away with friends, yesterday was all about her...us.
that deserves a post unto itself.
sunday we all were awed by joseph and the amazing technicolor dreamcoat.
we saw the production at the high school.
it was a sold-out show and absolutely spectacular.
even t. bone agreed and he was not necessarily looking forward to it.
i had a perma grin for the duration of the performance and i caught coach singing outloud a couple times.
i cannot tell you how many times i've listened to the cd since the show at miss bit's request.
after the show, my brother and sil joined us for sunday dinner: an erstwhile tradition much missed.
coach made our company worthy chicken parmesan in his new cast iron skillet.
we served it with my famous garlic bread for which the secret is simply good bread and copious amounts of butter, and a salad dressed with my homemade balsamic vinaigrette. mangia!
there were clean plates all around the table and no room for dessert, which was a good thing because i didn't have time to make any.
much of coach's weekend was consumed with baseball: try outs and the draft.
he ended up with some solid picks.
i think he has a good team...a very nice team and that is reason for celebration even if they don't win the championship again, but...
but i think they might!
the kids had their share of play dates and parties and just hanging around playing games and building forts.
a fort that peanut claimed as his own for the duration of the weekend.
i am still happily in hibernation mode myself reading and viewing my days and nights away.
i did stick my nose out a couple times to pound the pavement, which was refreshing.
one walk was with coach close to home and another along the lakefront and through downtown whilst the kids were in sunday school.
as they say all  good things must come to an end.
this was the kind of weekend that i would have liked to last forever.

On My Mind Monday

Homesickness is just a state of mind for me.  I'm always missing someone or someplace or something.  I'm always trying to get back to some imaginary somewhere.  My life has been one long longing.

*****************************************************************

Elizabeth Wurtzel

Prozac Nation

At times...many times this is so.   Today...President's Day...I always think of my Mom.  We would have spent the afternoon together.  After a a long leisurely lunch, we would have picked the kids up from school and probably had dinner together too. Instead I have plans to spend the day with my daughter.  I'm so glad she has the day off so we can make the same kinds of memories I made with my Mom.

This Week's Menu

It's an egg, pasta and chicken week at Casa Wags.  This is the tentative menu.  Tentative because Coach made mention of homemade pizzas and that could trump any one of these options.

Chicken Enchilada Spaghetti

Breakfast for dinner: Veggie Frittata and Tortilla Espanola.

Baked Chicken Parmesan, sauteed spinach,  garlic bread

Linguine with Asparagus and Poached Egg

Grateful Friday

Today I give thanks for...

Love, chocolate and hearts.  Hugs, kisses and foot rubs too.

Handmade valentines and Pinterest for a plethora of cute, doable ideas.

T. Bone made us a valentine of his own volition.  One side was for me and the flip side was for Coach.  Very efficient and green of him.  Sweet too.

Miss Bit wrote me a one page letter this week trying to persuade me to let her get a lizard.  She's moving beyond any hope of a bearded dragon and now firmly fixated on an anole.  She was quite convincing, but still lizardless.

A date to skate after school this week.  The ice was good and temperatures fine, yet the warming house was closed.  Thankfully, the van did quite well as a makeshift warming house.

I convinced  Miss Bit to wear her cute heart printed dress on Valentine's Day with leggings and boots.  She didn't want to, but then I could tell that she thought she looked rather festive and hip.  I am not ready for dress days to come to an end.

Remembering no meat today.  I'm so glad I love tuna.

Miss Bit bounced out of bed this morning because she was a little excited that today is hibernation day for the third grade.  She brought a sleeping bag, pillow, teddy bear, stack of books and a supply of snacks for the day's experiment.  Sounds like a fun day.

Early to bed every night this week and night after night of solid sleep.

A new, soft afghan and the fact that it took this guy mere minutes to to claim it as his own.

Conversation hearts and cats who try to read them.

The kids both gave up gum for Lent.  They spent the better part of the beginning of the week chewing through their packs.

A long weekend.  No school on Monday.

Love Today and Everyday

This morning as I drove along the lakefront, I fantasized about being a painter.  If I were talented in that art of expression, I'd have pulled into a deserted parking lot, fetched my watercolors and done my best to copy the mesmerizing landscape before me so I could always see it and forever feel it.  It was the kind of scene that if honestly rendered, would have spoken to viewers, awed them and certainly evoked any other number of emotions..  Reality is...I have to try and paint this picture with my words.  I don't carry around canvases or sketch books.  I don't own a collection of brushes in many sizes or nature's palette in paints to capture the way the muted slate sky met up with the cerulean inland sea.  Radiating from the sky heavy with haze were beautiful beams of light.  Rays like beacons or flares were reaching through the vapor ala Close Encounters of the Third Kind. I did a triple take.  At least.  It was otherworldly.  Dramatic.  Divine.

I parked  in an out of the way lot just so I could take it all in.  I love the winter sky best.  It's severe in equal measure to the subtlety of the same expanse in summer.  It's harsh.  The juxtaposition between light and dark is sharp and showy. Blue is bluer and white starker.  Perhaps the sky just seems more saturated when the rest of the world is sepia toned and in drab decline.  All I know is I find myself looking up much more than usual these days of late winter to my reverent amazement.

February 14th.  Definitely late winter.  Valentines Day.  The second song that cued up on the cd was My Funny Valentine.  Not just any old rendition, but Rickie Lee Jones'...the best.  Her crooning away while I watched the light show over the lake struck me like cupid's arrow.  There is so much beauty in this world.  It is all around us - above us, beside us and inside us.  All we have to do is open ourselves up to behold it.  There is so much love too, and all we have to do is open ourselves up to receive it.

Those five minutes, which made me ten minutes late for work, were my gift to myself this Valentine's Day.

On My Mind Monday

I suppose in the end the whole of life becomes an act of letting go, but in the end what always hurts the most is not being able to take a moment to say goodbye.
**********************************************************

You want a story that won't surprise you. That will confirm what you already know. That won't make you see higher or further or differently.
**********************************************************

Life of Pi

I've never read the book, but last night I finally saw the movie.  It was Old Man and the Seaesque.  When I woke up at 1:30 this morning after dreaming that I was lost at sea, I couldn't get back to sleep.  I couldn't get back to sleep for like hours.  The first passage stayed with me and, of course, I found in the simple words a message for my current strife.  And thinking about that just made sleep all the more elusive.  Go figure.  

This parable did surprise me and make me think further.  I'm always grateful for that just not at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning.

I don't see this as an Academy winner, but I'm glad I saw it.  I may even still read the book at some point.