I mean, it’s the best when it decides to ACT like June instead of giving us unseasonably cool days and weeks-long stretches of rain, but whatever. It’s not snowing and the days are long and I can smell honeysuckle when I’m driving down the highway with the windows down, and WHY CAN’T IT BE EARLY SUMMER FOREVER?
Damn you and your orbit!
I’ve hit a small lull in activity between the hectic first days of June and what is shaping up to be an eventful summer, so this seems like a good a time as any for a few (lazy) bullet points to get you up to speed on life at JT Headquarters:
I still really hate it when people say “preggo.”
I made it through a very deadline-heavy week in late May-early June that threatened to swallow me (and my evenings) whole, and every night after the kid is in bed I brace myself for all the writing and preparation that must be done…and there isn’t any…and it is GLORIOUS. (For the time being.)
I have been craving a good read lately, but I no longer work down the street from the liberry, and their online selection for the Kindle is ASS, unless I feel like reading a whole slew of Nora Roberts novels, which…I do not. I am kind of a pain in the ass when it comes to my reading material (these days, I want something light but engaging and not too sad or else I’ll have weird dreams and dwell on it), so finding a book that fits the bill can be tough, and…wow. This is the lamest problem I have ever had.
We attended two weddings over Memorial Day weekend—one with Sadie and one without—and they were so much fun. The first wedding was that of my former college roommate, so we drove to Cincinnati with a very excited 4-year-old who ATE UP everything about the trip, from the ceremony (“WHEN ARE THEY GOING TO KISS?!”) to the reception (“WHEN ARE WE GOING TO DANCE?!”) to the hotel stay (she inherited her parents’ unnatural excitement for this) to primping for the wedding, which, OH MAN, she was reaching astronomical levels of cute that evening. I had packed her white dress shoes in their (tiny) box before putting them in my bag, and while I was busy getting the rest of my own clothes together, she filled the shoebox TO THE BRIM with costume jewelry, and she pretty much wanted to wear all of it. At once. To the relatively fancy evening wedding. Brad looked at me when we got a glimpse of our, uh, generously accessorized child, and for a moment I considered talking her into a more simplified look, but Internet, she was just so excited. “Do you feel pretty?” I asked her. “Yes!” she beamed. And that was that. My kid attended her first fancy evening wedding wearing a Rapunzel bracelet, a sparkly puppy ring, and a few strands of costume beads, and no one fainted from the scandal. (Oh, and she never did make it to the dancing, which started around 10pm. Poor kid was half asleep and had to be whisked upstairs to bed. Don’t worry, my dear – you have the whole rest of your life to Electric Slide.)
We completed another road trip over the weekend, this one to WV for a family reunion. That makes about 6 round trips to WV in as many months, which equals roughly 24 hours in the car. Yes, I have spent an entire day of 2013 driving. But! Road trips are off the docket for the while, now that Brad is beginning rehearsals for a show & Sadie’s Saturday ballet classes start up next weekend. Speaking of Sadie, I was hoping one of you could tell me when she looked like she does in this short video we ran across, because I don’t remember it and IT BLOWS MY MIND:
This video also made me momentarily crave another baby for, like, five very intense seconds (DON’T WORRY, BRAD, IT PASSED).
Also, did we ever discuss the rad (and by rad I mean terrible) purple paint in our old house’s guest room? Yeah. It was freshly painted when we moved in (INCLUDING THE CEILING, THEY PAINTED THE CEILING), so we let it go while we got everything else painted…and then it remained that way for the rest of the 5 years we were there. But we spent a lot of time in that room when Sadie was little because it was next to her room (ours was upstairs in the former attic), so I have a lot of fond memories tied to that awful shade of purple. Also, a lady died in that room. YAYYYYYY.
In geeky theatre news, so far this summer I have auditioned for and did not get a role, but I am auditioning for another on Wednesday. I have some pretty mixed feelings about this, because this show would start rehearsing during Brad’s final week of shows, meaning that our summer would be entirely tied up in rehearsal and performance schedules, leaving little-to-no time for weekend trips to see the fam or, you know, for actual VACATION purposes. Thing is, the role I’m reading for on Wednesday is 1) relatively small, and 2) with a theatre company I haven’t worked for yet (which pays well), and DAMMIT, I really want to add this particular feather to my cap. My gut is telling me BITCH, THIS SHOW WILL MAKE YOUR LIFE CRAZY, and my guilt is telling me YOU ARE RUINING YOUR CHILD’S SUMMER FOR SELFISH REASONS, and…I honestly don’t know what to do. I think it also rehearses during the day, which would be challenging (but not impossible) to pull off with my work schedule, and…well, I’ve been driving myself mental about this all day. Wheee!
I’ve been pretty hit-and-miss when it comes to keeping up with all the blogs I used to read religiously, but I randomly clicked on this link when it popped up on Twitter, and holy shit. Started crying at work. Bad news bears.
I had the most enormous slice of lemon meringue pie at my parents’ house on Sunday. It was epic, and I would like to re-live the entire experience right now.
In related news, we all started talking about our favorite summer desserts WHILE we were eating lemon meringue pie (see: DOIN IT RITE), and Internet, there are so many summery desserts I hold near and dear to my Cool Whip-loving heart. Rounding out the top five are:
Cherry pie, as in she’s my (ALL DAY EVERY DAY WITH THAT CANNED FILLING)
SPEAKING OF grandmothers (which I was speaking of very briefly a few bullet points ago in my love letter to all things Jell-O), I had to go to my grandmother’s old house–where, as of a few weeks ago, my uncle had been living–to basically take anything I wanted before the place was hoovered out in preparation to sell it. My uncle is now in an assisted living facility, so it’s time to get rid of the old row house that my dad and his brothers grew up in and where I spent many a Christmas Day and summer evening. I haven’t been back there much since my grandmother passed away in 1997, after which most of her stuff was cleaned out, so it was both SO WEIRD to poke around the house with Sadie, and pretty sad since most of the stuff that really reminded me of HER (the candy dish that was constantly stocked with M’n'Ms and Brach’s hard candy, the telephone table that a cousin snagged, the loose powder canister with a pink plastic deer on top) was gone. I did take all of her dishes, though — nothing fancy, just regular old cream-colored dishes with pink flowers and matching pink coffee cups. There were roughly ten ZILLION place settings, so I kind of didn’t know what I was committing to when I decided to take the dishes…but some of them are cracked & chipped, so I figure I’ll only keep maybe half of them. I just wanted to keep the dishes I remember using during so many holiday meals — holidays where we had nearly 15 people crammed into that tiny house, which seemed even TINIER during this visit. My dad thinks that whoever buys the place will probably just have to knock it down and start anew — it’s an over-100-year-old frame house with seriously busted foundation/structural problems, so that makes sense, but MAN, it’s weird to think of that place being leveled.
I wish I was a more relaxed person. It takes (wastes) a lot of energy being anxious and neurotic. BOO.
I literally have no TV shows to watch anymore. 30 Rock and The Office are gone, Parks & Rec is on summer break, Game of Thrones’ season is over. I think the final season of Dexter is coming on soon, though, so I can supplement my evenings with some grotesque violence, like a good American.
Oh! Our CSA (farm share) began last week, and I was way too excited about it. This was the first year we’ve done something like this, having finally come to terms with the fact that any and all vegetables/fruits/herbs I plant will be immediately devoured by deer/groundhogs/bunnies/and—most recently—a fucking CAT who we’ve caught nomming on one of our perennials out front, WTF. The first CSA haul contained mostly greens: chard, kale, asian greens, salad greens, scallions, radishes. I blew my CSA wad a bit that first night and ate about four out of those five items in one sitting (IT WAS DELICIOUS) and am very much looking forward to this week, when we might get some home-grown strawberries. If you have ever had the pleasure of eating organic, home-grown strawberries, then you will agree with me when I say that the experience is on par with the birth of your first child, and they make those giant, hard, white-centered grocery store strawberries look like rat poison by comparison.
So! Work! Can’t really talk about work (WANT TO), but I will tell you that Brad got a new job and it’s awesome and he’s awesome and we’re all really excited for him. Best part? His new office is Dairy Queen-adjacent.
AW YISS.
Sadie continues to be the sweetest, funniest, most-difficult-to-leave-at-school-each-morning person I’ve ever met. I’ve been working on picking my battles with her (Yes, you can wear your Easter dress to school (it wasn’t that expensive, you’ll outgrow it in another two months anyway), yes, you can stay up til 10pm when we’re visiting your adoring relatives, NO, YOU CANNOT RUN FULL SPEED TOWARD THE ROAD EVEN THOUGH YOU’VE PROMISED US YOU WILL STOP ONCE YOU HIT THE CURB GOOD GOD, CHILD), and there really aren’t that many battles to fight anyway. I won the lottery with this kid.
Pictured here wearing Easter dress and petting her new favorite cat, Baby Boy, who is 100% deaf and 100% adored by Sadie. She followed him around for nearly 45 minutes, talking to him and gently petting him. THIS KID.
Well, that’s a not-so-quick update about what’s been going on around here. Man, that felt good. Blogging more often than once every three weeks — apparently I enjoy it?
So, some time ago, I alluded to the fact that I was going to write about some feelings I felt the weekend my Mom brought up my old theatre scrapbook from high school, but seeing as how I’ve barely been able to find time to cover the basics around here, it’s no surprise that it got pushed to the bottom of the to-do list. But look! Here I am! And I’m going to talk about my feeeeeeeeeliiiiiiiings! Isn’t that great?!?
and she said “Oh Daddy, tomorrow we’re making mama a present for mudder’s day”
and i said “really?! are you excited?”
and she said “yes, because i love mama SO much”
me: she’s the best in the world
Brad: i know.
i told her that when we go to bed, we talk about how awesome she is…
and after she was putting you to bed last night [a game we were playing in which she'd put me to bed in her room and then pretend to go to sleep in our bed, and I'd have to keep asking her for another blanket, a glass of water, etc.], every time we climbed into bed she’d say “she’s so awesome”
me: haha
i was cracking up at her sighing when i’d ask for something
i love exasperated Pidge
Brad: one time she sighed and said “she’s the worst.”
