Old School

Max and Jack went on a guys trip this weekend with Steve and their Grandpa Jack. They went to Capitol Reef, with a stop at a historic one room school house during the trip.

Max went straight to work...

... and Jack did a bit of daydreaming.

But, as might be expected, they enjoyed the swimming pool at the hotel the best. Go figure.

Je ne parle pas Francais tres bein.

Yes, it's true, I'm going to be living in Paris for a few months, but I'm very remedial when it comes to speaking French (and have yet to figure out how to do the accents while typing on my keyboard), so I'm starting a French 101 class tomorrow. I'm not sure what I'm dreading more, realizing just how bad my French is, or feeling extremely old since I literally am old enough to be the mother of most, if not all, the students.

Oh well, c'est la vie.

But to celebrate, I thought I'd share a song that makes me think there's at least two New Zealanders out there who speak French as poorly as I do. Enjoy.

Mad Fan

So, I've promised everyone that I would take it easy for the next couple of days so I will, hopefully, be able to kick the sickness, so that can only mean one thing: a trip to the video store. I know that I'm way behind the times, but I finally rented the first season of Mad Men, and let me tell you, I was hooked after the first episode. If all goes well, I will have watched the whole first season by the time Monday rolls around. So, to celebrate my new obsession, I decided to Mad Man myself. I think it pretty accurately captures what I would look like if I were a secretary in a Madison Avenue ad agency back in the sixties, don't you? Even down to the doughnut as my vice. If only they had had Diet Coke back then.

I'll admit I'm not a fan of all the drinking, smoking, and all the sexist remarks, but, honestly, if I could transport myself right now to Sterling Cooper, I'd put up with all of it just for the clothes alone.

I Just Don't Get It

So, I was searching on overstock.com the other day for some throw pillows and came across this:

Could someone explain this to me? What does this mean? Why do I find it so disturbing? And do I really want to know?

So many questions, so few answers.

Not Quite Pneumonia

So, I've been feeling sick for a couple of weeks now. At first I just thought it was a cold, and then I just thought it was a cold with a cough, but after a couple of weeks of hacking all night and having no energy all day, I finally admitted it was time to go see the doctor. Luckily, I did, and found out that I have some kind of asthmatic thing going on, that could turn into pneumonia if I didn't take care of it. So, okay, I guess I will.

So she set me up with a slow acting inhaler and a quick acting inhaler, so hopefully I'll be acting more like myself any day now.

This Made Me Cry Today

I don't know why, but seeing this bunch of boys and their two awesome Dads playing football in our back yard today brought me to tears (in a good way). I guess I just feel so lucky that my boys have a Dad like this, and I wish every kid in the world did.

Sneak Peek

I've had quite a few requests via email and blog comments that go something like "Where are the pictures of the house already?" Well, I've been hesitant since I'm still pulling things together and there are still some missing elements, like the kitchen backsplash, that I want to get in before I do a full pictorial. But here's a little taste of things to come, the staircase in our main living area.

I promise I'll share more soon. I've almost got my sanity back.

Bow Tie

Max has wanted a bow tie for over a year, and I finally found one that wasn't a) tacky b) extremely flammable and c) part of a hideous jr. tuxedo. He looks even cuter than Tucker Carlson, and I agree more with his political views.

Tart

I had this amazing tart Friday night at Sundance, and it truly lived up to it's name. It was intense, sweet, fresh lemon, and tasted as good as it looks. If summer had a flavor, this would be it.

Seems Like Old Times

I was lucky enough to happen upon Annie Hall tonight on PBS. It took me back, way back, to college when a guy I was dating at the time was shocked and amazed I hadn't seen it, and jumped into the car that very moment to rent it. From that first viewing, I became an obsessive Woody Allen fan, and have now seen every movie Woody Allen has ever made. And Annie Hall, I mean, really, is there any more perfect movie in the world?

The closing scene reminded me of all the relationships I was in before Steve, and all the things I learned from them, mostly about myself. And I felt this real gratitude for who I became from all those experiences, and was just really glad that all of those people shared part of their lives with me. And how they all led me to someone like Steve.

So, this little snippet is to all those guys, and a special thank you to Matt for jumping in his car that night and introducing me to one of my favorite things in the whole world.

School Daze

Um, excuse me, but when did kids go back to school in mid August?

Hello?

Way back when I started school it was always the week after Labor Day.

And I had to walk there, uphill, in the snow, both ways.

School not only seems to be coming earlier every year, but this year I totally got hit upside the head with it. The boys have been going since Monday, and I still look around and wonder where they are. Like most of my craziness these days, I chalk it up to all the building and the moving. But, luckily, we did remember to take first day of school photos. Here they are:

Jack's back at the same preschool this year, and he loves it. Unfortunately, we still have to drive there, but it's totally worth the trip.

And, fortunately, the local elementary is just a few blocks away, so Max was able to ride his scooter to school. Another reason I love our new house. You can add it to the list.

And he's off to start 2nd grade with Steve as his wing man.

Forgive me, but I have one more excuse me:

Um, Excuse me, when did my baby get old enough to start 2nd grade?

Hello?

Briscoe

Again with the list.

Another thing I love about the new house is that we get our cat, Briscoe back. (He's named after Lenny Briscoe, the character played by the late, great Jerry Orbach on Law & Order. We went through a heavy L&O phase early in our marriage). He's been living with my parents for the last year because we couldn't have pets in our rental. I often felt bad because I forgot about him a lot, but we have loved having him back. The boys love him, and were so excited to pet and play with him and set up a space for him in our utility room.

I admit, I've loved having him back too. There' something so zen about a cat. They are so still and quiet, and there is something truly therapeutic to me about petting Briscoe and hearing him purr.

I'm sorry, Briscoe, for forgetting how much you add to our family. It's good to have you back.

Hidden Treasures

Okay, so this one isn't about the new house, but I actually found something I love about ALL THOSE BOXES I had in storage for the past year. Once we got them to the new place I just looked at them and wondered what in the world was in them and why I couldn't just load them in the back of the car and donate whatever was inside. I told my new neighbor, Louise, this and she said I should just do it, but I said there might be something worthwhile in there. And boy, was I right. Check this one out:


It's a picture of Steve, in full cowboy gear, taken when he was probably four our five years old. I loved these two photos when his Mom gave them to us, and then spent FOREVER looking for a cool frame they would work in. Luckily, I found this one at Pottery Barn after months of carrying the photos around in my wallet, searching wherever frames were sold.

I love these photos for so many reasons, for the retro colors, the fact that the photos have the cool white borders you never find on photos anymore, the fact that Steve's brother Jay is wearing his holster and gun crooked so it looks more like a g-string, but most of all I love it because I love Steve, and having this little glimpse into his childhood is such a treat.

One box down, about 4 million more to go...

Pot of Gold

I'm continuing my list of the things I love about my new house.

Today, I'm loving the yard.

The other night there was a major summer thunderstorm and cloud burst and after the short and powerful storm, I looked out our back window and saw this:


It may be hard to tell but that rainbow was ending right in our cherry tree, which makes me think we may have just hit the jackpot.

Pizza! Pizza!

I've decided it's about time to stop slacking and start writing every day again. And there's no better way to do it than to start listing off my favorite things about the new house. So, without further ado, here's the first thing on my list.

My double oven.

I grew up in an old house with a very standard kitchen and stove (gas, at least), so the idea of a double oven never occurred to me. Even as I started to plan the new house I didn't think about it because I thought they were just with people with huge families or someone far more ambitious than me who bakes their own bread with every meal. But then the option came up and I said "Wait a minute, that means I could make two pizzas at one time. Sign me up."

I started making pizza when we first moved here over five years ago and was more than just a little underwhelmed but the local offerings. Now I make it once a week, and always make two so there's lots of leftovers. I used to make one and then another (because I tried to make two at the same time once and it wasn't pretty) so the first one was cold by the time the second came out. But now, ta-da:

I'm really not a fan of excess, but honestly, sometimes bigger actually is better.

Creating A Life Worth Living

Years ago I gave Steve a book called Creating A Life Worth Living, which was a career guide for people in the arts. I always knew he would be a college professor, but I thought it had some good insights, but if I'm completely honest, I bought it just because I loved the title.

I've often thought about how to create a life worth living, and sometimes I've been more successful than others. Mostly I think it comes down to attitude. All in all, I think life is always worthwhile.

There has been a lot of stress with the house building and the move (as you well know if you read this blog), and I'll admit, there have been times when I wondered if it was all worth it. Over the past few days I've had some experiences that have really confirmed to me that yes, it was worth it, not the least of which was yesterday afternoon spent in our new backyard.

To give you some context, our last house was part of a newer subdivision, so it backed up onto a bunch of other backyards and had no trees, few kids, and no privacy. And the past year we've lived in a condo with no yard, so the yard has become a very big deal. Check it out:

When I saw the kids playing with their friends underneath the old cherry tree I realized that alone was worth all of it.

Now, if I can just survive assembling all that IKEA furniture, my life will be complete.

Date Night

Here's how Steve and I spent Saturday night:


Yeah, pretty hot.

And we spent Sunday putting together IKEA blinds just to find out we bought one of the components in the wrong size so we couldn't finish them.

IKEA: Truly a blessing and a curse.

Coming Into Focus

So, I haven't felt much like myself lately. It probably has to do with the moving stress and the building stress, and all the other little stresses of life along with an extreme lack of yoga. But today I started to feel a little more normal (whatever that means). But I know I've missed a few blog posts. I plan to get back to my daily ramblings soon, but if things are a little spotty for the next little while just know I still think every day is worth writing about, but lately I just don't have it in me to write every day. I promise I'll catch up.

More soon.

Last Time I Was This Tired I Was In The Hospital

Well, not actually the hospital, but I had just had Max and I was standing in line at the grocery store and felt so tired I thought I could just lie down on the floor right there in the checkout line and let people step over me and that would be just fine. That day I went straight home, walked through the door, told Steve I just had to sleep, and didn't wake up for 12 hours.

Unfortunately I don't have that luxury right now, and I am exhausted, thus the lack of post yesterday. The house is great, but there is so much to be done, and so many unexpected issues (more on that later), that it's taking all I've got just to keep going. So right now it's 8:10 PM and I'm heading to bed.

More tomorrow.

Rerun

Due to my crazy busy life and lack of sleep, today we will be rerunning this post. It's really all you need to know.

Tune in tomorrow when we will return to our regular scheduled program.

Moving Day

Well, it's not this bad, but almost. I think we'll only need one truck.
But I do wish we had this many people to help us.

But it's almost over. Except our cabinets STILL aren't done.

Did I mention that it's almost over?