Things I have eaten Trader Joe’s Salsa Verde with this week:
1) Tortilla chips
2) An avocado and havarti cheese wrap
3) AkMak crackers
4) Mac ‘n’ cheese
5) An omelet w/ hash browns
6) A spoon
7) My index finger
Category Archives: make me smile
Sunday afternoon with E
John is at a conference today (AAR), and C is at a school meeting this afternoon. So it’s just us girls knocking around the house.
What we’ve done so far:
–ate edamame and girl scout cookies for lunch
–tried E’s mood ring on my fingers, my tongue and my toes (FYI, my toes were in an envious mood, just in case you were wondering)
–retreated to our rooms for an hour or so of quiet reading time
–had a chevre and cracker snack
–brought out the oil pastels for an art project
–got cozy in PJs and handknit socks
–talked about cats, art, warm & cool colors, church, brothers, washing dishes, etc.
Make me smile…
–when i climb under the bedcovers and slide my foot down between the sheets. That first moment of clean, cool linen against skin. lovely.
–when it’s windy and cold and I’ve been sitting outside for 2 hours selling girl scout cookies w/E at Trader Joe’s. And the local coffee shop drops off 5 cups of hot cocoa topped with mounds of whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles for the girls. the looks in the girls’ eyes as they realize that all that chocolatey goodness is for them. adorable!
–Mom’s loan of her chainsaw to our community garden. And using it to chop down decrepit structures and overgrown trees. thanks!
–my nephew’s antics in my LR. His marching, dancing, and ‘uh-oh.’ his sweet dimples.
–my upstairs neighbor’s slightly off-key and LOUD singing of Karen Carpenter songs. Her enthusiasm is absolutely infectious (tho I sing Cat Stevens back at her…)
–my neighbors (and Friends) who bring me spent coffee grounds for my compost bin.
🙂
not shining…
As a reward for finishing up a big project today, I dusted off my latest netflix movie and settled in for some entertainment. I felt pretty sure I would like this movie because it’s about a piano player who plays Rachmaninoff.
Well, Shine was a bit disappointing. Though I am always happy to see someone with a physical challenge (like mental illness) portrayed in a positive way, the writers came up with a maudlin and predictable plot. Not even the ugly-man-bare-buttock-humor was redeeming (unlike in Waking Ned Devine, A Room With a View, or Bean).
More than anything I was annoyed that the piano scenes were awful. I wanted _real_ playing, not a poor imitation. And the concertos were all chopped up throughout the movie. What a shame.
Not sure why this movie was Oscar material–feeling pretty disappointed in the sad, sad state of American cinema. Does anyone out there have any really great movies to recommend?
Make me smile…
–Railroad Maps (can you see the grin here? It’s ear-to-ear…)
—27 new species found in California. Amazing.
–Chicago has the coolest nicknames. My favorite didn’t make the list. It’s from Norris, he calls Chicago “The Great Grey City”. But “City of the Big Shoulders” and “Paris of the Prairie” are almost as cool.
–now I’ve got a great excuse if I ever get kicked out of a public building for smelling bad. “I spilled a can of fish on my pants yesterday.” Yah.
–a t-shirt w/my blogwords on it. too cool.
🙂
things that make me just a little bit sad…
1) My kids having enough homework to keep them busy until bedtime. Every weekday.
2) Eating the last of my valentine’s gummies.
3) Copy machines that are so smart that they decide how they’ll make your copies. Despite what you tell them about how you want to make your copies.
4) 7th week. ’nuff said.
5) Only junk mail today.
6) A sink full of dishes
7) Cat vomit. That E walked through on her way to the kitchen.
Make me smile…
–get cozy in my underwear drawer.
–love the fresh berries I bought from the Farmer’s Market as if they were better than catnip.
–jump up on my lap while I’m typing (instead of on my keyboard).
–take pictures of my ellycat for me to post on my blog (thanks John!!).
Make me smile…
–buying $.96 worth of sour gummies at Sweet Tooth w/E. The sweet burn aftwerwards. [too sour to smile through]
–sitting at the kitchen table. E on the mac, John on his tabletPC, me on junebug. Listening to tunes broadcast thru the monster speakers on my vintage turntable via an FM transmitter.
–wearing my blue striped socks to class today. Hiding under the pantlegs of my very bland khakis, peeking out during my students’ presentations.
–the swish and pull of my dangly silver earrings with sparkly blue stones. A John gift from the Tibet store in Davis, CA.
–E sitting in her chair with her knees pulled up to her chest. Her long, wavy hair (a recently undone braid) spilling over shoulders and legs as her head is bowed.
🙂
Make me smile…
–seeing pictures of my neices and nephew.
–when you come home from work in the middle of the day just to eat lunch with me.
–taking a walk. by myself. in the morning. while the dew is still clinging to the cobwebs in my dwarf peach tree.
🙂
brown paper packages…
I was wrapping up a (belated) holiday box to send to my in-laws last week. I piled all the stuff inside the box and pulled out a couple of rolls of wrapping tape (one tan, one clear) to tape it all up.
I realized as I was wrapping, that for me wrapping tape has really ruined parcel post. I long for the days when packages were all wrapped in brown paper and tied up with string. And I think the string is what made it really satisfying.
That magical string–that was knotted in places and could double as a handle when a package was to bulky to carry otherwise. I really miss it.
In my 19th-century fantasy life (the one I live when I’ve leapt headfirst into some primary source documents), everything is tied with string. When I go to the local store to stock up on essentials the shopkeeper ties string around my paper parcel of tea, my carefully chosen spices, and the newly-milled packet of whole wheat flour. Even the length of calico that I buy E’s new dress is tied up with string. Of course I carefully untie the string from my parcels and add it to the ball that I keep in the back of my bureau drawer.
🙂