Category: another day in the life

Any old excuse for a party around here.

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A few weeks ago, Edie was invited to a lovely backyard birthday party and afterward mused why does her birthday always have to be in January?  January birthdays are just not conducive to having lawn games with your friends, not to mention, the size of our house really limits the number of guests she’s allowed to invite.  So, we somehow agreed to the idea of a half birthday party – not that we celebrate half birthdays on a regular basis, but around here, we’ll take any old excuse to throw a party, obviously.   Bless her heart, she was so excited about this party that she came up with a list of games, as well as whipping up the invitation on indesign all by herself.  
We started off with some games and races and even a water balloon fight.  They were on clearance when I ran to the store yesterday morning and I grabbed 3 packs of 175.  Edie, always the realist, talked me down to 2 packs.  And only most of 1 got filled up.  Filling water balloons is alot of work.  Somehow, she knew this.
As it’s July and we live in Virginia, I felt some sort of ice cream cake was called for.  I thought about ordering one from Ben & Jerry’s,  but knew I could whip up something myself.  After pondering long and hard some of the beautiful cakes Martha suggests, I realized that this was more the effort I wanted to put into it. (I need a form.  Plain and simple.  I know this about myself.  I am not ashamed to admit.  No way can I free form something square.  Straight lines & I are not something that mix well.)

It was cold, it was yummy and the children were all completely impressed.   We had real watermelon to go with the frozen and I filled the punch bowl with lemonade.  That and a couple bag of chips and we had a party.

Edie’s vision for the party also included a trip to the sprinklers at the park across the street.  (Which was great, because while I can throw an awesome party, I am just not good at entertaining children.  Especially 12 of them for 2 hours. Must be my lack of enthusiasm for games.)    So, after everyone got their fill of ice cream cake, we headed across the street.

What a pack.  You can almost see all the kids in that shot.  We had first graders through fifth graders in attendance.  We had soccer teammates, friends from school, neighborhood friends.  We had boys and girls.  Edie put a good bit of thought into her guest list and I have to say, she can throw a party. 

The kids had the run of the sprinklers at the park. We gave them all cups and while running through the water, they had water battle that kept Pat & I (and themselves) greatly entertained.
We stayed at the park until it was time for everyone to leave.  Everyone looked thoroughly exhausted and I do believe a good time was had by all. A few parents stayed for a cold beer afterwards (always a tradition at our house) and after spending my day getting ready for and then hosting a party for 12 kids, that beer that had been iced down in a cooler all afternoon was nice and cold and mmm tasty.
I don’t know if this party will become one of our annual traditions, but it was a good time, pretty low key and a good excuse for Edie to gather a bunch of her favorite people together for no reason other than just because.  Considering we throw a huge party every May for that reason, she really is just following in our footsteps.  I really couldn’t be prouder of her.

What a long strange trip it was.

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Long time no post.  I’ve spent the better part of the last two weeks now on roadtrips.   Here are some highlights:
Pat got invited to a reception at the National Zoo in DC hosted by one of his funders.  I decided I needed to tag along, because I was sure it was going to be pretty cool and sure enough, it was.  They held it at the Big Cats exhibit (cut off in that photo).  They had practically the whole walk around the cats tented off, with multiple bars and food stations.  The food was quite good – they had these mini-crab cakes I couldn’t walk past without popping one in my mouth, as well as some white chocolate covered oreos that I also had a hard time walking past and not eating…  All sorts of gourmet popcorn – including cookies and cream.  That I had to try, being the popcorn junkie that I am.  It was interesting….but not as good as kettle korn.
Of course, it’s not a trip to DC without getting lost and ending up at the Pentagon.  This time, we had printed directions, a map AND a GPS and we still ended up circling around until Pat said, “Oh, look, the Pentagon”.  Sure enough, there it was.  After that we were able to get our bearings and get to where we were going, this time without circling the monuments.  Which is progress. 

So, we spent the night in DC, got up and drove to Richmond for Pat to attend a meeting for work the next day.  Ah, the life of a Riverkeeper.  While he was at his meeting, I wandered about downtown, checking out the Virginia State House.  Pretty darn Southern looking, isn’t it?  I saw a tour group on segways and got to watch one of them tumble, which amused me to no end, because hey, stuff like that cracks me up.
You’d think that after 24 hours of jet setting, we’d be ready to come home, but no.  Well, we did stop by and pick Edie up, for she got to join us on the next leg.  Pat had to be in Lynchburg for the Batteau Festival kickoff. (For those of you counting, that was 4 cities in one day.)  Edie & I decided to use it as an excuse to catch a ride down to visit friends and family down there.  So we checked out Catalano’s, the really great new deli downtown, owned by our friends Marisa & Clinton and spent a great weekend visiting with our Harrington cousins in Lynchburg.   
 We came home for a few nights in between, to do laundry, and get ready for the next week….
Pat had a Riverkeepers conference in Chicago, and since it was summer and I seem to never do well home alone with Edie during the summer, we hit the road.    Edie took a picture of her foot everywhere we stayed.

Sometimes she allowed others to join in. 

It was a whirlwind trip.  We visited a whole host of friends and family and thoroughly enjoyed our visits with everyone.  Spent some time in the town I grew up in and hit the thrifts.  Scored an American Girl Doll Dress that Edie already had the dress for the doll, so I was pretty happy to find the girl size dress for $3.  Edie had brought exactly one book for the entire trip, so we stocked up on lots of books for her.  At 5 for $1, it was a total steal.   Mickie made a fabulous dinner for us and allowed me to invite folks over – thanks Mick.  We’ll have to do it again sometime.  Saw my cousin Henry’s new house, which is a house we drove past everyday on our way to pick up my dad from work – to set foot in it was pretty amazing, as I’ve been in love with that house since I was a wee one.  (And yes, it was every bit as fabulous and cute as I thought it would be.  Maybe even more so.)  Spent some quality time with Andrea, who is still one of my most favorite people in the whole world.  We put the baby down for a nap, plopped the other kids in front of a movie and curled up in bed and chatted the afternoon away.  Just like old times.  So looking forward to our weekend together next month.  Also had lunch with my parent’s best friends.  It was great to see them and they want to come down and have some projects at our house.  I’m  looking forward to that.  Uncle Pete is very handy and very good at being handy, and I have a whole list of projects I’m ready to set him loose on.  Renee took us down the street for snowballs – how did I forget about them?  Man they are good.  They are totally a Baltimore thing and living a few hours south, they are hard to find, which I suppose is how I forgot about them. 
Last, but not least, I went to the Jedediah Thomas Smith Foundation Crabfeed.
I love crabs.  It was a good cause, a good price and all I had to do was sit and pick crabs while they brought a non stop stream of them to me.  Heaven.  Ran into folks from high school that I haven’t seen in eons and had a lovely time.  I am just in awe of Savannah.  Of course, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, despite how humble Kristin is about it.  Kristin gave me a great big bag of yarn she was giving away, so now I have a little stash to use up.  Thanks Kristin. Edie is already eyeing the cones of that yummy purple yarn for something for her. 
It was good to see everyone – we picked up something at just about every stop – plants, canning supplies, bags of yarn and more.  We ate some yummy food, had ice cream pretty much every day, and did some good shopping.  It was great to come home and see Daddy again and hear about his adventures in Chicago – including playing football with a Kennedy.  While we were away, the garden absolutely took off and I picked my first ripe tomato when we got home.  A zebra stripe.  The key I had left for the housesitter broke off in the lock, so her father & another neighbor came over to pick it and get the remnants out, so we didn’t have to worry about it when we got home.  Thanks Craig & Peter.  That was very nice of you.  The offer for drinks still stands. 
And now that we are home and getting back into the swing of things, I suppose I ought to clean this house.  June has been a whirlwind of visits, roadtrips and just general fun.  July looks to be more of the same, although at a slower pace.  Phew.  Not quite sure how much longer I can go on at this breakneck speed to be honest.  And I am feeling slightly inspired to whip this house into shape.  Better grab that while I have it.

Those coolers really do come in handy.

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We have quite a collection of coolers, acquired here & there for a variety of events and reasons.  So when the power goes out, they do come in handy for packing up and icing down the contents of the fridge.  Like the last 2 days, for instance, when a thunderstorm knocked out one of the transformers at the park and we were without power for 30 hours.  Not that I mind really.  The weather was sunny, 80 and breezy.  Just beautiful.  We have a gas stove and a gas hot water heater, so we can cook and have hot showers.  We just didn’t have a computer (although Pat did have his iphone).   I like unplugging now & again and to be able to do it from the comfort of my own home is nice.  I got a whole bunch of things done that I had been meaning to do, like weed the garden, sort through all the end of the year papers that came home with Edie, among other things, without the distraction of checking facebook and email and blogs…..I need to remember to do that more often – just unplug myself.

And, if nothing else, being able to use a bunch of those coolers when the power goes out, does make us realize having coolers in every shape and size is really a good idea.

The week that was.

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My (not so) baby girl attended her first concert this week, became a fourth grader and thus, top dog in her elementary school, and bonded with one of my dear college girlfriends.

Arcade Fire is her current favorite band and so when we heard they were coming to town, we knew she was going to want to go with us.  I even got her down on the very front row and at one point, Win Butler stood right in front of her and for about 3 words, sang directly to her.  She was in heaven.  What a great first show.  She took notes on how I managed to manuver her down in front and told me when we got home that she’s pretty sure we’ll be able to get her front row for the next few years to come.  That’s my gal.

Clarabelle came into town Thursday for the LOOK3 photo festival, so we spent Thursday and Friday afternoons on the downtown mall with her, taking in some of the events and having a thoroughly lovely visit.  I have this incredible group of women I was friends with in college and over the last 20 years or so we have loosely stayed in touch with each.  I know that I am who I am today in no small part because of them.  They are all strong, beautiful, smart, successful women and I love them, and our ongoing relationship, dearly.  We might not talk all the time, but when one of us talks to another, we bring each other up to speed on everyone.    Edie is getting to this age where she is starting to forge her own relationships with people, and so to see her do this with Clara this week touched me to no end.  Edie even included her in the latest foot self portrait shot.

Clara was more than encouraging about my new business idea.  While we were out hanging around downtown this week, two women sitting next to us at the gelato place struck up a conversation with me.  When they asked what I did for a living, I told them I was starting up a new venture and told them what it was.  They handed me their business cards and told me to contact them when I was a go, as they couldn’t wait to support me.  Which I took as yet another sign from the universe as a “DO THIS”.  So, while I might be quiet about it in this space for the time being, I am working on my master plan and I am feeling this is truly the path I need to explore.

Friday morning was the last day of school, and I helped put together the reception following the fourth grade moving up ceremony.  Hard to believe next year will be my daughter’s last in elementary school.   It really does go fast and I realize more and more how okay I am with stepping off career track to be a mom.  It’s made me a more tolerant, well rounded person, who has moments of patience, (but generally limited to those under the age of 10).  I am definitely looking forward to being a stay at home mom this summer and filling our time with home made popsicles, pool time, and just general lounging.  I’m also stepping up to be an officer for the PTO this year, so I’ll have lots to keep me busy, as if starting up my own business, being a mom and running a girl scout troop wasn’t enough.  Clearly, I like projects.

My Weekend.

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Every tent needs a disco ball.
This weekend Edie’s soccer team was in the Sunburn Tournament.  She had been to a birthday party the evening before and brought her party bag along, because in her words, you never know when you’re going to need a party bag.  I discovered a disco ball necklace in there, so I hung it up in one of our many team tents.  We like our flair.   
It was warm and sunny and there was lots of soccer.  We had a few hours break between games Saturday, so as a team, we tailgated it, which may have been the highlight of the tournament.  We came darn close to winning the first game on Saturday and after that, lost to teams that were better than us.  Our girls still played their hearts out though and handled it well.   We treated them to many popsicles, and after their last game on Sunday, burgers at Riverside.  We definitely think our team had the most fun.
Sunday afternoon, our friends from Snuggle Acres dropped by for a visit.  We hit the pool, the kiddos picked the first blueberries from our bush for a snack and we had a quick little dinner before they hit the road back home.  It’s always good to see them and I love that we just happen to live on their way to visit Will’s folks in Lynchburg.

Munching Blueberries.

Edie & Abigail getting sunscreened for the pool all by their big girl selves.

Dinner, picnic table style.
Blueberries!
Speaking of blueberries, this morning I went out and picked a pint of berries for blueberry muffins for breakfast.  I love, love, love being able to go pick breakfast, lunch and dinner from our garden.  It just doesn’t get any fresher than that!

Things I’m good and bad at.

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I can’t remember when it became a tradition for me to bake Betty a fabulous chocolate birthday cake.  Part of it was wanting an excuse to bake, but part of it was wanting to give a single mom friend something nice.  Birthdays are meant to be celebrated in my opinion.  At any rate, for I don’t know how many years now, we’ve had a tradition of chocolate cake for Betty’s Birthday, usually something decadent.
I made Martha Stewart’s Moist Devil’s Food Cake for the second year in a row.  It’s a triple layer cake.  I learned the hard way last year the best way to transport a triple layer cake from your house to anywhere else is in pieces and assemble it there. 
See?  It’s tall.   Looking at that picture, I now see that it was going to be dry.  I didn’t bake it as long as the recipe called for and it was still dry. (Not terribly, just enough to bug me.) And the frosting….the frosting takes 2 1/2 hours.  You read that right.  It makes enough to cover 3 layers and any imperfections you have with putting 3 layers of cake together (including the cake being a wee bit on the dry side), plus, it’s really good, so I find it worth it.  However, I followed the recipe to the T and for about an hour and half of that 2 and 1/2 hours, I was worried my frosting wasn’t going to turn out.  While I was slightly freaking out, I googled it and found this. The video of Mrs. Millman making her frosting, which not only is informative, but a fabulous Martha moment.  Really wished I had watched this first.  Oh well.  Next time.

I grabbed some strawberries from everyone’s patches and used them to decorate the top. Another tradition that seems to have sprung up while we weren’t looking.
Happy Birthday Betty. 
I already have next year’s cake in mind.  Pat has suggested a few from the repertoire that I haven’t made in while, like this one. Otherwise known as 2 day cake around here, because it takes 2 days to make.  But worth it.

The weekend wasn’t all baking though.  Spent some time at the pool, trying to get the sun and the pool chemicals to help clear up the poison ivy.  It worked fairly well, I must say.  Took Edie strawberry picking out at Chile’s.  We wanted some strawberry shortcake and our little patch just isn’t producing for that this year.  It was a good mother-daughter field trip.  Once this crazy week full of lots of end of school year events is over, I’ll head back out and pick oodles to put up for the winter. 
We also took our annual Memorial Day canoe trip.  Once upon a time, this was also part of Betty’s birthday celebration.  The ladies of the ‘hood took the children by our lonesomes one year.  We did about a mile stretch of the Rivanna, the nice, little, local river and it took us all day.  We hit every rope swing, had several beer & cupcakes stops and by the time we got home, everyone had had a meltdown.  Since then, we have decided it’s best to have our husbands around for the trip.  If nothing else, they help keep the kiddo meltdowns to a minimum. (Okay, they are good to schelp canoes too.)
This year we did the Rockfish River in Nelson County.  Absolutely Gorgeous.  And we had it all to ourselves, which was even better.  Somehow I ended up steering a canoe with Edie & her pal
Sophia, but that didn’t last long.  I completely and totally suck at steering.  Not only did we run smack into a downed tree that came darn close to throwing me from the boat, we flipped over, all within a few hundred yards of putting in.   I got to go in unexpectedly a second time when I was in Virginia’s boat too.  Good stuff.  Edie says crocs float and I can assure you they do, because I had them kicked off when we went over the second time and had to quick swim downstream to save my shoes.  The only things lost besides my dignity were a few pairs of sunglasses.  Thanks to my Becky Bucket Pat got me for Christmas a few years ago, everything that needed to stay dry, like my camera, did.  So, I might suck at steering a canoe, but I can put a tight enough seal on my bucket to keep it dry under water.  Which really is comforting.
All in all, it was a completely relaxing, rejuvenating weekend.  

Pretty garden pictures and life lessons.

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The most perfect strawberry and my first tomato in the morning light.

I finally got out there and finished the last of my spring planting.  While I was dumping my weed bucket in a far off corner of the yard, I decided to yank out what I know is a weed.  Which lead to pulling out handfuls of roots, as Pat had recently mowed everything down for our big bash. It’s much easier to clear that way you know.   Of course I was barehanded, I only wear gloves when I’m using a shovel or hoe or anything that might callous my hands.  Of course I wrestled a root or two and of course I now have poison ivy on my forearms, behind my knees (where I wrestled the viney root out of the ground) and in between my fingers.  Of course my cold has gotten worse and is being aggravated by allergies, so I’m officially miserable.

One of these days, I will learn to wear gloves when I pull strange things out of the ground.  One of these days I will learn what poison ivy looks like.  At least I’ve learned to resist the urge to scratch the poison…..

Weekend.

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It’s been a weekend full of impromptu gatherings with friends, new and old, complete with bonfires.

Found a new local cheese, Italian cheddar, that paired with some baguette and a nice, big bottle of red is a meal in itself.

Edie scored her first goal of the season in her team’s victory Saturday morning. She scored from a defensive position, halfway across the field.  It was one of those glorious, slow motion scenes that is in movies.  Every girl on the field just stopped and watched that ball roll, halfway across the field, into the goal box.  And then our girls erupted in cheers.  Definitely proud mama moment.

After a week of rain that took us from a deficit of several inches to a surplus of several inches, the sun came out yesterday and dried everything out.

I’ve managed to get some cherries from our tree this year, while sitting back and watching the robins and the squirrels battle it out for their own shares. That squirrel has done something to really tick off that robin, because that robin divebombs it every chance it gets.  I’ve had way too much fun watching that scene over and over this week.

I took off for a walk down the street with a friend yesterday afternoon, beer in hand, only to wander home with a new found friend and neighbor, who decided that since I walked down the street with an open beer, I must be okay(or something like that).  So I brought him home to meet the family. 

Had another neighbor share cookies that she had acquired at another house on her walk in the neighborhood.  She had made a few new friends on her walk too.  Must have been something in the air yesterday.  Or maybe it’s just our neighborhood is like that.

Edie spent the better part of the afternoon running back & forth between the house and the park. Part of me was sad I didn’t have to tag along and part of me was quite pleased that I no longer have to schlep back & forth between my house and the park.

I’ve had several really great chats with friends, bouncing ideas off people, figuring out what I want to be when I grow up. I am surrounded by so many supportive people, it’s amazing and overwhelming and comforting, all at the same time.

It’s been the kind of weekend that when we crawled into bed at 10 pm Saturday night, exhausted, Pat said it had been a perfect kind of day.

It most certainly has been the kind of weekend that reminds how thankful I am for all the small blessings we have. 

Thirteen may be my lucky number.

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My last official day of employment was Friday the 13th. Today, my first official day of unemployment also happens to be our 13th wedding anniversary. Today is the first day of the rest of my life, post-job and marks the anniversary of the first day of the rest of my life with my love and both are marked by the number thirteen.  Co-incidence? I’m thinking not.  Thirteen has always been good for me, even the age of thirteen was pretty decent for me, so today I’m wondering if it’s actually my lucky number.

And as if that wasn’t enough, the thrift gods smiled on me today. I went to one store, with one thing in mind – a new white vintage chenille bedspread to replace the one currently disintegrating on top of Edie’s bed. It was a gift, it came with the bed and belonged to a dear friend’s ancestor (I can’t remember now if it was his grandmother or great aunt. At any rate, it’s been around a while). Edie thinks I can repair it, but there are too many spots and some of them are big. I think I just need to cut into what I can of it and make some pillows. Anyway, I came, I saw, I scored exactly what I was looking for, as well as finally finding myself a new round pink rose china butter dish cover that I’ve been seeking since mine broke last summer. And one of those sweet old school screw into the wall pencil sharpeners that is going in my happy corner today. My days of wandering around the house looking for a pencil sharpener are over.

Saturday afternoon, while working on the chicken house with Brian, I discovered this little guy hanging out.  The tiniest praying mantis I’ve ever seen. 
 

It is said they are harbingers of good luck and messengers.  Some cultures associate them with restoring life to the dead.  A praying mantis supposedly guided the pilgrims to Mecca, the holiest spot in the Muslim world.  Some African cultures refer to them as gods.

Either way, I probably should pay attention to messages the Universe is currently trying to send.

Unbridled Creativity

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The other day Edie came home from school and asked if she could take a picture of my toothbrush.  Why for I asked.  “Isabelle and I are working on a short story about a family of toothbrushes and I’m in charge of the pictures.” Sure thing.

Why I imagined this picture to be a simple act of taking a picture of the toothbrushes in a cup,  I don’t know. 

I pointed out the light that time of day was better upstairs in our bathroom and she quite happily took off upstairs with her camera to our bathroom.

A few minutes later, she was back downstairs.  “Do you have food coloring?”  What do you need that for? “Well, in the story, the family is going on vacation and I want to fill up your tub and pretend it’s the pool, but I want the water to be really blue, so I need to use food coloring.”  No, you are not putting food coloring in my bathtub.  How about you use a big bowl and pretend that’s the pool?  Good idea.

Not sure why I didn’t go upstairs to oversee the goings on at that moment, but I didn’t. 

When I did go up a few minutes later, this was the scene I witnessed:

That would be her father’s toothbrush, face down in the blue dyed water.  And that would be her toothbrush, face down on the floor of my tub.  A tub that is admittedly, not exactly clean.

It was clean last week, and then we had a raging party Saturday night and we had a friend who decided that his 3 and 5 year old sons needed a bath, right there and then, and left one heck of a dirt ring that I haven’t had time to clean yet. 

What, you don’t have friends who decide in the middle of raging parties at your house that their kids need a bath in your tub?

At that point, I told her to please bring our toothbrushes downstairs with the bowl so I could soak them in something to disinfect them. Which she did. 

I then walked past her as she was photoshopping her photos she had uploaded and I couldn’t help but notice this:

That would be the entire family of toothbrushes on the floor of my less than clean tub. 

At this juncture I would like to point out that our tub has one of those built-in nonslip bottoms that over the years has taken on a shade a little less than white anyway.  The only way it appears dazzling white  is to pour bleach on it.  And let it soak.  So, I’ve learned to live with a slightly off-white tub bottom, since I don’t always use bleach when I scrub out the tub.  So what you see is for the most part how it usually looks.  Thankfully the big nasty dirt ring wasn’t in the photos.  But the knowledge that not only was my tub bottom photographed, but then photoshopped and printed out and taken to school is slightly unsettling, to say the least.  I wish I could say that she photoshopped the background until it was sparkling white, but alas, that would have taken away from ‘beach’ look she was going for apparently.

I soaked the toothbrushes in vinegar.  I chose to tell her father about the adventure his toothbrush took by just showing him the photos she’d printed out.   We are still laughing about it and we are quite proud of how creative she is.  We just ask that she not put our toothbrushes in any more compromising positions.  We don’t feel this is too much to ask or that we are being too stifling.  Thankfully, she agrees.

And it wouldn’t hurt me to ask what her intentions are next time she asks to use my toothbrush either.