A Week in Review

Hello All! How are you? Ready for the coming Memorial Day weekend? I know I am. I work at the store tomorrow, but then I have the holiday off. Let’s commemorate with A Week in Review.

Mr. Jones
Jonah has always been required to give me a good hug when we see each other. All of the kids are under the same obligation. Honestly, it’s the least they can do. But Jonah seems to have it in his head that he has to give hugs because he’s the youngest. A few years ago, when Marla was pregnant with William, I was at their house, and getting my hug, and then he said, “When they baby comes then you’ll hug it instead of me and then I’ll be happy!” like he could not wait for that great day of deliverance. Free at last!

I tried to tell him then that it wouldn’t change anything. The baby would be tiny, and would need tiny hugs. Jonah’s job was to give the big, squeezing hugs.

Last Sunday I was at their house again, and again asked Jonah for a quality hug. He protested at first, but after a few minutes he came running over, “OK, here’s your quality hug” (he really said ‘quality’) and then William ran up and grabbed me around the knees, too.

Jonah said, “When does this move from me to William?”

“Well, Zac still hugs me, so probably never.” Zac is 15 now, and really does give nice hugs.

See, he must think that hugging is the responsibility of the youngest child, and now that he’s not the youngest, he’s ready to pass that job on to the baby. I hate to crush his hopes, but he’s not getting off the hook that easily. That kid is going to have to hug me at his college graduation.

Maybe I’m too demanding and should just leave them all alone? I sometimes wonder…? But then again, I kind of think he’d miss the attention. I know I would.

Road Trip
I am planning to drive to Minnesota this summer! There’s a huge family reunion the end of July – lots of pale Minnesotans with funny accents, knee shorts and sandals with socks – to keep the mosquitoes off of the ankles, of course. On the last several back I’ve flown, so this time I really think it will be fun to road trip. I’ll probably go by myself. My siblings are coming to the reunion, but can’t take as much time off as I am planning to. But a long drive alone with some good music and Diet Coke and great scenery sounds so relaxing, almost therapeutic. And I have a nice car now. I’m getting all tingly just thinking about it. There are a lot of beautiful spots along the way. If I really do this, then I’ll take lots of pictures and create a blog journal of the trip. Would you like that? North Dakota has the world’s largest Holstein cow…? Of course you’d like that.

Season Wrap Up
It’s the end of May, which means that all of my TV shows have wrapped it up for the summer. Only Glee is still running. I’m kind of glad that they’re gone for a while. I tend to think of watching TV as a colossal waste of time. I still do it, of course, but it is a waste of time. Now that I don’t have the temptation I’m hoping to do more productive things – evening walks, reading, writing, learning how to cook again. It’ll be nice. And Marla’s pool will be open. I’ve told her that I’ll be over most evenings. She doesn’t have to talk to me, or even acknowledge my presence. I’ll just walk through the house into the backyard and jump in the pool. Nice. Maybe I’ll leave her some tip money on the counter? Or I’ll take the kids with me and give her some alone time. There’s a way to make this a win-win.

Novels
Lately I’ve been reading a lot of non-fiction, John Adams by McCullough for one. I’ve liked all of it, but over the last couple of days I’ve really wanted a good novel. I miss them! Almost with a physical pain. So as soon as John and I wrap it up, I’m going to read a bunch of fiction. Yay, it’s so exciting! I’ll let you know what I’m reading and what I think of it, if you’re interested. There’s no reason why this can’t be fun for us all.

Cards and Letters
I’ve been writing letters lately, and sending cards to loved ones. In this age of electronic everything, I honestly worry that the art of letter writing will be lost, and that will be sad. It’s nice putting a pen to paper and talking to someone. It feels more personal. I’ve been trying to write to my parents once a week, and every now and then I send a card to Sierra at school. My dad writes to me, and I love it. Getting something in the mail is so much fun. I hope they think so, too.

I guess that’s enough for today. Thanks, as always, for taking the time.
You are loved.

Not a Good Day for Me

PMS makes me want three things:

1 - To scream at anyone who talks to me. "DID YOU JUST SAY SOMETHING?! WHY ARE YOU TALKING TO ME? I AM SO NOT IN THE MOOD FOR THIS. YOU CAN TAKE YOUR 'GOOD MORNINGS' AND STICK THEM WHERE..." Those who don't speak still get a dirty look just for existing. They should know better.

2 - To eat and eat and eat and eat and eat, the saltier and greasier the better.

3 - To sleep for hours. If I could get into bed right now and stay there until this is over it would be a better world for everyone. Really - for everyone.

A Week in Review

Hello! I have not put anything here for two weeks now, and I suppose it’s time to write something. Blogspot.com is going to put my blog on an inactive status. There’s not a lot to talk about today, but lets still try to do a Week in Review.

Walking
It’s been a nice spring – kind of wet and cooler temperatures, but I really like cooler temperatures. Yesterday I took my camera with me on a walk up City Creek Canyon. Everything’s so green and pretty, and there are some wild lilac bushes that look and smell gorgeous. Here are a few pictures.

And one of the creek. With the runoff from the mountain, the water is really gushing.

The canyon is one of my favorite spots in the whole valley.

Domesticity
I've been thinking lately about homemaking. Does that sound strange, thinking about homemaking? Just the word homemaking makes me think of being 16 and sitting in Laurels class on Sundays. I have some friends who are very good at it. There's Nicole, for example, who has been sewing like a fiend, and who has created a lovely yard. And my sister is great in the kitchen and the garden. She's taken so much of what Mom taught us and put it to good use. I really admire that.

Mom did teach me every skill that a domesticated woman needs. She's a wonder. She can do EVERYTHING - cooking, baking, sewing, gardening, canning, freezing, cleaning, laundry. She even made my sister and I rag dolls, really cute rag dolls with embroidered faces. I had Jack and Jill dolls with blue eyes and blond hair. When Marla came from Korea Mom made her a doll with dark eyes and hair. The hair was yarn and divided into thick braids. I loved playing with that hair.

I remember being very little and sitting underneath Mom's sewing table while she worked. I liked to watch her foot work the buttons that made the machine stop and go. There was a little lever on the machine, at the back of the needle, that would flip up the foot that held the material in place. She'd flip that up, pull the material out, cut the string on a hook above the foot all in one swift move. Fascinating.

If I were to make a list now of how I use all she taught me it would be pretty short. I can clean; I'm good at that, and I do laundry pretty well. And....that's about it. One summer a couple of years ago I tried to grow a tomato plant in a huge pot on the deck, but it didn't work. I don't think the deck gets enough sunlight. I wonder now, if I had a real garden, if I'd be able to keep up with it? Probably not, so, so much work.

The thing is, I've always had visions of being a powerhouse homemaker, one to match my mom, but without all the sewing. But, like so many other things I thought I'd do, I put it off until I had a family to do all this for. There's not much motivation to cook for one. Living in an apartment doesn't give a lot of garden/yard opportunities. And, I've always had roommates who've had a lot of stuff. We've melded all of our appliances and furniture into one eclectic mismatch. I've never chosen a decor style of my own, or decided what to do with different rooms. And besides, when you work 50 hours a week where's the time?

I'm feeling now, though, like I'd like to give homemaking a try. Something in me is missing what I grew up with and wishing for what my friends and family have. I really think that working in a home, rather than just using it as a place to sleep and watch tv, makes it feel like the sanctuary it's suppose to be, makes it feel like your own space. So, this summer, I'm going to make small steps, starting with cracking open some of the many, many cookbooks I've bought over the years (all with such great intentions) and cook some meals. And I'm going to put flowers out on the deck. Maybe I'll even buy some pillows for the couch - but let's not get carried away. I can't do everything at once. It's going to be a quiet, homey summer, and I'm looking forward to it.

This all brings up a theme that's been running through my mind for some time now - stop waiting and just live your life as it is right now. Don't we all have things we're going to do when...? What if "when" never comes? Pick things you can do and do them. Life will be happier that way.

I think that's all for now. Thanks, as always, for your kind attention, and for ignoring my typos.

You are loved.

A Random Friday

I just ate some frozen yogurt and now I’m really cold.

It’s beautiful outside today. I took a walk up City Creek Canyon, and the trees were in bloom, tulips everywhere, gorgeous.

I have to say, though, that I have a love/hate relationship with spring. It’s lovely, but my itchy allergy eyes are not. I’m so stuffed up.

Love the new car. It’s really great. It’s bigger than the Honda, so I’m still learning how to park it. I like to make sure that there are three empty spaces on either side of me before going for a spot.

Bigger cars drive nice. They feel solid and smooth. I love it.

Speaking of smooth, once when I was in high school my youngest brother, Courtney, and I were at a fast food place. At the time, Dad had some goats on the family farm, and he was constantly telling us how healthy goats’ milk was, and that its taste was very smooth. We never fell for it. But, while having shakes at the restaurant, we decided to fill out a comment card (remember when there were comment cards at places?). It went something like this, “Our Dad raises goats. We’d like to suggest that you use goat’s milk in your shakes. It’s better for you than cows’ milk, and oh so smooth. Please call us at 555-GOAT.” I think we drew a tiny picture of a goat at the bottom. We laughed ourselves sick, and then put it in the comment box.

That’s still funny. Maybe you had to be there.

Those goats used to seriously creep me out. They have evil, beady little eyes.

Aaron and Barry used to call me goat. When Shane was a toddler he called me Nanny instead of Angie. They caught on to that and turned it into nanny goat, and then just goat.

I really didn’t plan to write a post about goats.

Did I already tell you that I love my car? I really do.

Melissa and I are going to see Iron Man 2 tonight. I’m so psyched.

How do you spell psyched?

Do people still say psyched, or am I looking old, again?

Anyway, the movie will be great.

I’m a Gwyneth Paltrow fan. I know, she has kind of a rep for being snooty, but then again so do I. There are times when I really don’t feel like talking to anyone, and if she feels way too, then I get it. Anyway, big fan ever since “Emma” came out in the mid 90s.

I still love the Coldplay, too. And now that I have a car with a good CD player and four working speakers, I can play the Coldplay really, really loud.

I watched The Marriage Ref last night because Gwyneth was on it, along with Jerry Seinfeld and some other guy I’ve never heard of. It was fun to watch, but still I think that’s a really weird show. Married couples with odd problems (like the husband is working on an act as a knife thrower and his wife doesn’t want to be the assistant who get knifes thrown at her) take their problems to the show, and then the celebrity panel discusses the issue and makes a call as to who wins the argument. Weird. Most of the time the panel is full of 5-time divorcees. Who’s going to listen to them?

Last night’s Community was one of the funniest episodes of any show I’ve seen in a really, really long time. Paint ball war at the community college, and the glee club got shot out of a tree. Nice.

I love the Glee, huge fan, but the jokes about it on Community were great.

I think that’s it. I should move on to some serious work.

Oh, I almost forgot, Happy Mothers' Day to all you moms. I'm sure that you're doing a really good job with your kids. I'm very sure.

Thanks, as always, for taking my side.
You are loved.