The thing about camping is that it's supposed to be all about getting back to nature and bonding as a family---at least, in the Norman Rockwell-esque picture in my head, that's what it's supposed to be---but the reality is that there are only certain limits to which I'm willing to go when it comes to "roughing it." For example: I am old, and I do not enjoy sleeping on the ground. Also, if it takes longer to set up camp than it took to drive there, I'm out. So this is why we have our little camping trailer, complete with beds (not as comfy as the beds at home, but a far cry from sleeping on...
The piano piece that Chickadee was never able to master before the recital-that-wasn't is stuck in my head. Da-da-da-dada, da-da-da-dada, dadadadadadadadadaddaaaaaaaaa ARGH. There's now a 50-50 chance I can play it better than she can, and I don't even play piano. At the very least, I can da-da-da it for you, though I may need to rock in the corner while I do so. I have Exciting Follow-up Piano News for you in a minute, though, so there's that. At the moment I am looking outside and feeling decidedly weird. While I enjoy not having to deal with snow here in the south, I'm not sure I fully...
One of the things the kids were most excited about when we moved to Georgia---aside from the pool, because ZOMG A POOL WE MUST BE RICH---was that they were finally going to start taking piano lessons. I can't give you a definitive answer on why we never did it before we moved, but I think it went a little something like: Sorry, we don't have the money right now; well now you're doing something else, instead; now we have the money and possibly the time but you no longer seem interested; and finally, HOORAY we have both the time and the money and you're interested but... we're about to move,...
In addition to the whirlwind that is a quick family visit (into which you feel like you really OUGHT to be able to cram a good six month's or so worth of time together, even if it's only a few days), the kids are having conferences this week at school. I love school conferences, because they represent a unique opportunity for me to embarrass my children. Oh, I kid. About the embarrassing part, anyway. I mean, if Chickadee is to be believed, I can turn anything into an opportunity to embarrass her. [Aside: One day before something at school she came upon me applying some mascara. "Why are you...
So my parents are here for a visit. That's completely awesome because they are fun people, and also because our favorite collective hobby appears to be eating. I mean, sure, yes, we also talk a lot and go do stuff and watching Monkey grow in frustration that Grandpa's sole mission on this trip isn't actually to play Legos with him 12+ hours/day, but the main reason we all get together is so that we can order approximately twenty different things from our local Chinese restaurant and then sit at the table talking about how we really overdid it, this time, and we have WAY too much food, yes,...
While I would never characterize my life as simple or easy (HAAAAAA!), I have been incredibly lucky in one very specific way: I have not yet, as an adult, experienced the loss of someone to whom I was very close. So in some ways, I feel I'm something of a stranger to grief. The closest I'd come until fairly recently was the grief of losing my first marriage, and my hopes/dreams/plans associated therein. It's not the same, of course, but it followed a similar trajectory and kind of came out of nowhere to bite me on multiple occasions when I "should've" been well past mourning. The up side,...
It occurs to me that I forgot to tell you about out little adventure here, last week. I cannot even remember which television and Internet service we had originally, when we moved into this house, because I made Otto deal with it. I believe my exact words were, "Please make it go." Because that's how I roll; it doesn't matter to me---as long as it works---whereas Otto is likely to actually do some research and take care of it, and that's part of why I like having him around. So he set up whatever it was and it (mostly) worked and that was fine. But then a few years back we got iPhones, which...
Fall in the south is awesome. And by "awesome" I mean "nearly nonexistent, what with the summer temps well into October save for a few moderate days when we fling open every window in the house and scream 'IT'S A BEAUTIFUL DAY, QUICK, BREATHE IN THAT TEMPERATE AIR!'" As I slide into my third fourth (math is hard!) Fall here, I find myself experiencing so many of the same emotions I've had in the past few years: The giddiness at the first chilly morning; the urge to bake again, now that it's cool enough; and the justification of "sampling" the cornbread I made for dinner just to, you know,...
I don't know if you've maybe picked this up over the years, but we place a pretty big value on academic achievement, 'round these parts. Knowledge is power, and a big brain is a terrible thing to waste. Both children qualified for gifted education when we moved here (despite my bumbling) and yes, okay, according to their test scores, they're freaks. Both of 'em. And I expect them to work hard and perform up to their potential. But. I never want to be That Parent. I don't want to be the parent who believes that Precious Snookums is the very smartest and bestest and better than everyone else....
