What's Making Me Happy This Week

 

// Took Clementine to Athleta for some athletic clothes. She's never tried clothes on before - I've been buying Hanna Andersson clothes since they were size 90 (age 2ish?)  When the saleswoman asked which colors she likes, she answered: I like black.

// Alice has laid 7 eggs in 8 days!

// The Bluey episode "The Pool".  Luke and I have a running joke about the number of bags I have and the number of bags I pack for an outing (coloring books, colored pencils, stickers, very small My Little Ponies...) and how I tell the girls to pack their own activity bags for an outing [back when we went to brunch, etc].  This episode is a paean to the packed bag! 

// On Monday my front squat max weight for 4 repetitions jumped up by a lot. I surprised myself!

// Josie's drawing of a troll from Harry Potter:

What's Making Me Happy This Week

 

// I love Poshmark in general but lately I've been finding Eileen Fisher silk shells to wear under shirts and sweaters for less than $20.  These were created as sustainably as possible and EF takes all EF garments back for $5 an item for reselling/repurposing/recycling when you're done using them.

// Second annual screening mammogram: negative!

// Josie and I read Olivia and the Fairy Princesses in which she channels Martha Graham.  That lead to some googling of Martha Graham and we watched 15 minutes of Appalachian Spring - fascinating.

// I had an idea to use purple sweet potato in the brown butter sweet potato cinnamon rolls I made for Christmas - imagine, lavender cinnamon rolls! The girls would love it!  I roasted the purple sweet potato and mashed the flesh.  When I stirred the potato-milk-butter mixture into the flour, it was clear the dough was too dry but I forged ahead, kneading the dough with the stand mixer.  After kneading, it proofed for 90 minutes... and didn't rise at all.  As an added insult, the dough was not the vivid lavender I had hoped for, but a sickening pink-gray.

I turned the dough over in the bowl... and found that I had created a BRAIN!

// Bernie memes!  An inauguration highlight for me.  Feels good to laugh.

// This Y'all Need Science enamel pin from Pin Alchemy 

// Alice the oliver egger laid the first egg!  The chickens are 24 weeks now.  I saw Alice exhibit the "submissive squat" behavior recently and I don't check the nesting box very often, but thought I would take a peek.  There in the straw, a light green egg!  Such a thrill.

A Dusting of Snow

 Snow provokes responses that reach right back to childhood.

Andy Goldsworthy 

 This morning I walked the perimeter of Forest Park with gym friends with a weighted backpack. It was cold and good for the legs and good for the soul.

 We drove to Washington to deliver my dad's belated bday gift.  Sometimes a drive is so nice.  We visited with my parents (with masks on, dear reader -- hopefully my mom will be vaccinated soon!) and somehow we left with banana chocolate chip muffins, a half dozen doughnuts, a pearl necklace of my grandmother's, two costume necklaces for the girls, a Danish whisk, shampoo and conditioner (trial size), shampoo (Costco size), La Croix, a twelve pack of Truly ("a mistake. They have booze in them!"), and four frozen filet mignons.

[Yesterday I was laughing because my sister and I both loved THE SAME heart charm on the Ylang Ylang page (out of 30 heart items!) and today I saw a packing slip at my mom's ... for the very same Supergoop product I have in my online cart! Sharing a syncytial consciousness is weird.]

Arriving home a dusting of snow began to fall.  I cleaned out the coop while the girls terrorized played with the chickens.  (The girls are always determined to keep them out of "the side forest" - a decidedly un-forestlike strip of trees and vines between us and our neighbor - and just as determinedly the chickens gravitate toward the side forest.)

this berm will be planted with fruit trees soon!

They corralled the chickens into the run and I corralled the girls inside.  Clemmie started casting about, lots of energy needing direction.  "Do you have any fabric?" she said. "I want to make some clothes."

"I will get you whatever craft materials you need but you need to make a list. You should type it."

Birthday present idea list was also generated.

Another game she loves right now is Salon. We play a game in which one of us calls the salon, called Nail Snail, and makes an appointment, usually for a manicure and a hairstyle. We arrive at the salon, make introductions, and the beautification begins.  My favorite part of this game is the small talk in which we keep these characters going -- Clemmie will break character and give me direction, sotto voce,  "now you say ... your name is Linda ... I'm twenty-seven ... you've never been to Nail Snail before" and then resume her assumed voice and character.

Another employee of Nail Snail on the typewriter.

Luke read the first Harry Potter book aloud to the girls and they are into it.  Josie has a great memory for details and minor characters and likes to flip through the book to find a passage that has come up in conversation.  

This might have been on my bedroom door for weeks but I just saw it today. Annoying song but pretty good advice.

 

Christmastime 2020

I had a week of vacation before Christmas.  We made a one-night trip to Chicago to see Elise's new home and meet their new baby for the first time. [There is so much to say about COVID I don't know where to start].

Lately the girls have been listening to Beverly Cleary audiobooks at night. I downloaded a new-to-them series narrated by Neil Patrick Harris to listen to on the drive.  We were listening to a scene in Henry and the Clubhouse during which Ramona sings a jingle from a commercial.  The girls erupted in uproarious laughter in unison and then begged to hear that paragraph again (and again. and again).  Later I wondered why that particular scene should be so hilarious to both of them ... I think much of their delight came from investment in and familiarity with these characters.

Meeting the bebe!

Big sister - wearing a Hanna hand-me-down from us!

Bundling up for a walk to the playground.  We had delicious Detroit-style pizza for dinner and visited until bedtime intervened.

In the morning we took some photos in front of a church across from our hotel and picked up quiche and pastries from Hoosier Mama Pie Company. Luke took some family photos of Brett and Elise.

Then we drove to Elgin to see this much-loved family!

Headed to St. Charles to visit with Vince and Kate and co.

Playing "NPR news" with the karaoke microphone.

Mike sent us home with gift bags that included these wax sticks.  I thought these were pretty delightful.

Had to get home for colonoscopy prep! Jenny cracked me up when I told her about it:

Vacation week: Went to the pool.

Christmas Eve: started the day with CrossFit and an hour of family tennis.  Made this disastrous gray, greasy buttercream:

Prepped Bravetart's sweet potato brown butter cinnamon rolls while the girls watched Prancer.  After they went to bed Luke and I watched The Crown... it got later and later and the cinnamon roll dough didn't proof properly. Finally I shaped them and put the pan in the fridge and it was time to put out the presents...

Luke had stashed many of the wrapped presents in his work van... and after midnight he could not find the keys.  We were already concerned this would be the last Santa Christmas and now this! Christmas locked in the van! He searched for the keys for what seemed like a long time and then found them, in the pocket of some pants.

Four short hours later, the girls were up at 5:30.  They surveyed the presents and reported back to us - Santa came! - and we convinced them to doze until 7.

Josie added just the right complements to her cinnamon roll breakfast.

Clementine asked for a typewriter.  She likes the scene in Ratatouille when Anton Ego types out his review of Remy's restaurant.

The rest of the weekend was lazy and wonderful. Went to gym, made sourdough pancakes. Luke and C got a court and played tennis for a long time while Josie and I snuggled up and read Dory Fantasmagory. More swimming in the empty pool.  Early evening NachoMama's run.

Our friends hosted us for a wonderful New Year's Eve - I miss parties so much!

New Year's Day: lazy day of reading magazines, baking with Josie.  We started Honey I Shrunk the Kids and paused the movie to see the Rep's outdoor Glowy Snowy Day.  We bailed for pizza and salad takeout from Dewey's after 30 minutes in the line got us no closer to seeing the production.  Finished the movie (which the girls love) and watched a few episodes of Bluey (which I love - it reminds me so much of our family!)

Jan 2: Wreck bag walk, an annual tradition at the gym.  Three miles as a team of three sharing two weighted bags.  Went to work while Luke took girls swimming. Took Clemmie to Novel Neighbor, where she picked out some books for herself and for Josie - with almost no input from me. 

Looking over the books, Josie held up Cozy and asked "is this by the same person as The Mitten?" I don't remember The Mitten so I googled it immediately ... it is the same author-illustrator! "Do you read this book at Grandma's house?" I asked. "Yes," she said. "And she has a big puzzle of it."

The astounding thing is that she hasn't been to Grandma's house since July - and they didn't read The Mitten then, according to my mom.

Cozy; image via Amazon

                                                         Happy 2021 everybody!