LMH is at sleepaway camp this week. She comes home on Friday.

I am already planning dinner for Friday. I already know it will include macaroni and cheese and a big dish of strawberries on the side.

I expect by Thursday the house will seem even bigger than it already is, and possibly kind of lonely and sad.

But for now I relish the quiet, and the fact that anything that I put away stays put away. Nobody will tell me they are hungry, or bored. No ferrying anyone else to day camp or arranging play dates. No "Mommy mommy mommy mommymommymommymommy."

It's not often I get a break from being Mom.

Yesterday I led a bunch of young Girl Scouts (mostly Brownies and Daisies) in our little neighborhood parade.

It was cloudy, and cool enough that I was marching in a long-sleeved shirt without too much discomfort (Clouds and showers are standard July 4 weather in Seattle, in case you were wondering. Real summer usually starts July 5.), so I was missing the usual "Put sunscreen on, you silly person!" cues. Even so, I made sure that LMH had sunscreen but I suspect I overlooked it for myself. I stayed out of the direct sun for the rest of the day, but it was not enough. My face is now bright red, both literally and figuratively.

It was fun, but afterward I could tell that I had had all the crowds & noise that I could handle. But not so much that we didn't go off to a friend's house for dinner and then to their neighbor's house to watch fireworks. We came straight home and I essentially fell right into bed and got 8 hrs of sleep. Sleep is good.

but I was walking around today--busy day, mind you--feeling like I would like nothing more than to fall over and take a nap. My eyes feel so heavy and I don't know how much of that is sunburn and how much of it is my body saying, "8hrs of sleep! Wow! I want more! More! MORE!"

Thunderstorms! Rain! yay!!!

We just missed Leon (June 25). Every winter Mirth says that perhaps we will have a Leon party in the coming summer, but we never remember to do it. Apparently for Leon, you all get together and go out and buy something for yourself. Then you go home, and with much feasting and merriment, you wrap it nicely and then you take it home. I have never celebrated Leon but I should like to try it sometime.

I realize that this has been pretty family- and Girlscout- heavy content lately. Of course, my life has been pretty heavy with that content too... but here's some other stuff that's going on in my life, because this has been a nice social week that's kind of made up for the hell of last week:

• pandorasbox got married yesterday in Volunteer Park, with perfect weather. She and her husband looked gorgeous and glamourous. I wound up missing the ceremony itself (stupid traffic!) but had fun schmoozing afterward and at the reception. The weather was near-ideal, and I got to meet medusasbedhead and pal around with her a bit.
  
  Oh, yeah, and the reception was a no-host get-together at Cafe Metropolitain, which was a nicely funky bar on Capitol Hill. I had an insanely good mocha there. Cake was various cupcakes (I had red velvet.) The party favors were divine-smelling solid perfumes from Serpentine Hair.


• I've been participating in a "Healthy Habits" challenge. You choose a bunch of habits to adopt. Some of them (exercise, flossing, & quiet time) are default. But there's also a menu of habits from which you can choose 3, and you have to choose ones that are challenging. So far my extras are getting to bed by 11:30pm, being on time EVERYWHERE within 5 minutes, and taking my vitamins. (Hear that sound? That's the sound of all my real-life friends, especially hiker_chick & singingnettle, howling with laughter at the thought of me on time everywhere.)
  I'm running about 50/50 for vitamins. There are a couple of days that I manage to be on time everywhere (mostly those are days with not a lot going on)--usually I get there within 5 for most things but there's often one thing that I was 8-10 minutes late for, and it's not always due to my own poor planning (sometimes it's my poor mapreading skills). Very frustrating! and of course I haven't managed to be in bed by 11:30 once yet, though some days have come pretty dang close. I need to be more proactive about that one...like not having caffeinated mochas at 4 in the afternoon!


• There was another neighborhood womens' potluck on Thursday and it was fun.


• My voice teacher, Kathy, held an "Adult sing" night, which means that she hired an accompanist (for which we all chipped in) and a bunch of her grownup students came over with a bunch of sheet music and took turns singing around the piano. I was kinda terrified at the thought of singing at all, but Kathy hauled me up by the piano (in a nice way) so I could get that first time over with. Kathy was good about having everyone join in on chorus and such to help nervous folks out, which was also very comforting. Nice people. Great fun. But one thing I can't quite understand: even discounting nervousness, I sing better by myself in the car than I do next to a piano in front of a crowd. What's up with that? I suspect that it will be the subject of the next few lessons...


• I am still knitting a vivid-blue polar bear for Lil' Miss Hatbox. I like the pattern but I hate the yarn that LMH chose. Looks nice, but it's a pain to work with, especially when it comes time to rip stitches out.
  

So, that's some other stuff going on in my fabulous life. What's up with you?

Holy cow. No more school. Yikes.

LMH is a free agent for the next few days, after which she begins a dizzying array of summer camps.

We all seem to have survived the weekend. We did indeed sleep late, though there was no actual hiding under the bed. LMH and I got up around 10-ish, and tidied the kitchen a bit. LMH made a Father's day card for Mirth, and brought it to him with breakfast (lunch, really) in bed.

The day was super-relaxed. We hung out in our pajamas and watched television, futzed around on the web, and otherwise were lazy, lazy people. It was a good day, though there was still the issue that caused Mirth to go to the hospital in the first place the day before. But we all tried to relax nonetheless. Anyway, we finallygot dressed, and dropped LMH off for a sleepover at a friend's, so that Mirth and I could go to Avenue Q.

(Yes, I saw it twice in the same week. What's your point?)

We concluded the evening with excellent sushi.

Singingnettle and IHG, we are thinking of you...

Yesterday I was very very down, and blah, with bitchy moments. The afternoon was the worst but it got better by dinnertime.

I think I am better today. Good things will happen today, oh yes they will. I am meeting keikaimalu and hiker_chick for lunch to belatedly celebrate Hiker_chick's birthday. I feel bad about the "belated" part but I had gotten her present well in advance so I'm not a total lame-o.

And then I have the afternoon off! This doesn't happen nearly as frequently as I would like, and I will get a haircut (which will make me very happy) and getting my watchband fixed and maybe buy some clothes.

These days I would like to take my entire current wardrobe (except for my purple Team In Training shirt, my new "Moosejive" shirt, and the blue jeans I am wearing right this instant) and give them to Goodwill. I hate all the rest of my clothes. Many things are getting ratty, and quite a few were bought when I was somewhat larger and don't look so hot right now. But I still have 25 lbs I want to lose so I'm not ready to buy a ton of things...nor can I afford a ton of clothes right this moment. I would like to, though. But I will start with a few things and that will have to do for now.

Same-sex couples are allowed to marry in California!

Hooray!

Oh, it was a beautiful day--cool, clear, and perfect for running 13 miles.I thought I'd "have" to walk more, as in "I can't run, I need a break". Instead, when I walked, I was more likely thinking, "I could still run, but if I want to feel like running later, I should walk now." and I had no shame about walking on the hills, especially the steep one up to Prospect Point in the middle of the course.

I was hoping against hope that I would finish in 3 hrs. and I finished in 2:54:25, according to my official chip time.
More later. But here's something cool--the group of about 230 Team In Training runners who raised money just for this race? Just this one group, just for this event, raised over A MILLION DOLLARS. No kidding.

Anyway, it was fabulous, and there will be more stories later.

O friends who like chocolate:

I entreat you to go to coffeeinhell's journal and find out about the pre-launch sale of Polidori Chocolate's incredible truffles.

These are every thing an artisanal truffle should be. Well, okay, I am extrapolating, having had only one. But seriously. When have I been able to sit with 8 truffles next to me and only take one? The answer: When the one that I tried was so incredibly rich and luscious and swoon-worthy that one was truly enough, and I mean that in a good way. saoba put it better than I: These are not truffles for gobbling. These are not chocolate for sitting around eating with half an eye on something else. Okay, they'd be good for those things, if you like that kind of thing, and sometimes I do so I'm not judging. But they make a hella fine way to put a bit of ceremony and mindfulness in your day.


Dilletante's truffles--even Theo's truffles--are mere Hershey kisses in comparison. Go order truffles. You'll be glad that you did.

"What we have here is the top 106 books most often marked as "unread" by LibraryThing’s users. As in, they sit on the shelf to make you look smart or well-rounded. Bold the ones you've read, underline the ones you read for school, italicize the ones you started but didn't finish. Here's the twist: add (*) beside the ones you liked and would (or did) read again or recommend. Even if you read 'em for school in the first place." (gacked from suddenlynaked)

( Read more... )

I love Passover food. Especially good gefilte fish with horseradish.

It was really hard to find horseradish this year. Was it that way for you too? I experimented with some imported horseradish from Europe, but it turned out terrible--so bad that I emptied most of it into the Dispos-all before I realized I could try and get my money back. But it was too late. The chrain from Spain went mainly down the drain.

<gdr>

1. After weeks of wiggling it, LMH lost a front tooth on Saturday. She's very pleased about it.

2. It bugs me terribly that there is so much MSG, trans-fats, and unhealthy oils in so many kosher-for-Passover items. I realize that it's only a week, but it can be a pretty unhealthy week if you're observing strict rules. All the rest of the year, even if a person is limited to pre-prepared food items for whatever reason, one has the option of avoiding unhealthy additives. Yet for one week you're at the mercy of religiously-minded, but not nutritionally-minded, companies. One brand--only one!--of gefilte fish with no MSG. (and who needs MSG any time? I ask you.)

3. I was not tagged, and I will not tag, but it sounds like fun all the same. Grab the nearest book, open to page 123, find the fifth sentence. Then post the next three sentences. Tag five people and post a comment.

The nearest book is Brooke MacEldowney's gorgeously smoldering graphic novel of "A Midsummer Night's Dream," Page 123 is in the middle of Act 4, Scene 1, has a full-page panel of Titania asking Bottom, "What's your will?" That's it.

Go forth and participate if you so desire.

4. I forgot a great bit from Saturday's Seder. We were doing our traditional full-participation spoken version of Chad Gadya , where everyone does the sound effects of the kid, the zuzim, the cat, the dog, etc. And the K-----s' youngest son, A, is two years old and he was supposed to be the dog. The first time he said "woof," but when we got to the second time through with the dog (e.g.) "then came the stick (bang!) that beat the dog (ruff!) that bit the cat (meow!) that ate the kid (baaa) that father (Do your homework!) bought for two zuzim (jingle jingle)..." A wouldn't say "ruff" anymore. After that the dog only said "beep." We couldn't figure out why, until at the end he explained that he thought the stick "beeped" the dog. so the dog said beep! Too funny!

Our seder^* was last night at the K---- family house. Mom & Pop weren't feeling well (bad cold) and so didn't go. Mirth wasn't feeling well--tummy complaint--so he stuck around until dinner, had a bit of gefilte fish, and went home for the evening. But all remaining participants had a good time.

Anyway, their K----s' middle boy, J, got stage fright and only managed to stage-whisper to his dad the prologue "Why is this night different from all other nights?" and then LMH took over reading the rest in English.

Dinner was phenomenal as always. Our hosts made a really nice lamb roast for the main course, with roasted potatoes.

I was responsible for: veg side dish (I made cauliflower agrodolce), matzoh ball soup, and gefilte fish (from a jar. Kedem makes a nice one with no MSG.)

The cauliflower was "okay but not great" in my opinion. I've made that one before and I think it needed something to bring out more sweetness. Actually I think I just needed to simmer it longer but it was still fine. But the soup was really good (if I do say so myself) and the matzoh balls (made with whole-wheat matzoh meal and schmaltz from the soup) were fluffy and tasty. There's not a lot of soup left but there is some; the leftovers are more of a chicken-and-veggie stew with dumplings. Yum!

^*For those of you who might not be familiar: The Seder (means "order" because there's a set order for how you do things) is a multimedia retelling of the Passover story with audience participation.

You are absolutely supposed to feel like you personally were delivered from slavery and starvation. You do get teensy tastes of symbolic appetizers meant to underscore parts of the story (that's the multimedia part), and everyone gets a turn to read. And while you sit there, hungry, the aromas waft in from the kitchen and tempt everyone. At last there is dinner time, with incredible amounts of rich food, desserts, presents, and then more prayers, songs and jokes. Finally everyone goes home stuffed, having eaten like kings.


^**The Four Questions, again for those of you who are not familiar, is the speaking part given to the youngest at the table, at the beginning of the story. The youngest points out four major things we do differently at the seder and asks Why is this night different from all other nights? And that's the lead-in to the story, because the answer starts back with "once upon a time there was a guy named Abraham and he realized there was only One God..." and continues on through Joseph and his brothers and the famine and living in Egypt, until we wind up with Moses, and then we get to go into detail.

I didn't get enough sleep last night, but that's my fault. I *had* to check out Desktop Tower Defense and get sucked into it. (Fortunately, Leechblock is my friend. Bye-bye, DTD.)

It's turning out to be a fairly productive day. Clients all morning. I love teaching more when I've gotten enough sleep, but that's neither here nor there. Even on the worst mornings, I'm fine once I get past the first ten minutes or so--I'm a very social person and this stuff makes me very enthusiastic. And today was a particularly good day for my clients. Everyone's progressing so well. It's very exciting.

I've got lots of cooking and planning to accomplish for the next week. This Saturday is the start of Pesach and I promised to make matzoh balls. Thursday is my LLS fundraiser (I told everyone that instead of a potluck I'd do all the cooking, and asked them to please bring donation cheques), then the following Saturday is a Girl Scout sleepover.

It's all very tiring to think about but I'll pull it together. I'm trying to advance-plan for all the cooking and menus and whatnot.

I think the biggest thing I need to practice doing is to go to bed when I get useless in the evening, rather than staying up and playing/watching TV/whatever in the hopes of getting a second wind and getting productive again. That will have to start tonight, I think; I have a new client early tomorrow morning. (Yay for new clients!)

Too funny!

Check it out.

LMH had a friend over for a sleepover last night.

This morning I didn't really direct their activities, figuring they could play and amuse themselves...and they did. I came back down to the living room after a shower and discovered that they were using LMH's Elefun game to blow teeny bits of paper around the room. Confetti! Um...yay.

I think I shall give them another half hour and then let them have fun with the vaccuum cleaner.

[ETA: By the time I vented to the Internets, they had picked up every last teeny bit of paper. Yay!]

I've started reading aloud to LMH again. At her request, LMH and I have made it through Alice in Wonderland and we are most of the way through "Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There." These books (really book, since one volume comprises both stories) are old friends that I've come back to many times over the years.

I love reading aloud, and I'm a big ham about it with silly voices, and it's got me thinking, because the voices that I used to hear in my head for the characters are not the same as the voices I can come up with on the fly.

For example, I always heard Humpty Dumpty in my head as being a very aristocratic-sounding baritone, but I can't do baritone. I wound up giving him a really gruff, Oscar-the-grouch-ish voice (but without Oscar's NYC accent) and I tried for a British accent but it didn't stick. And Tweedledee and Tweedledum wound up with really nasal Boston accents, somehow, because it was what I could manage on the fly. Though it doesn't really make much sense that they should be from the states. (And I had a lot of fun trying to make the voices in "the Walrus and the Carpenter" sound like those Tweedle Brothers' voices trying to sound like a deep-voice walrus and an even more nasal carpenter, since they're the ones who recite it for Alice.) Last night I wound up giving the White Knight a Bullwinkle-like voice, even though I never thought of him that way. It helped him to sound more comical and LMH got a laugh out of him, so I was pleased with the way it came out.

Alice had a much better middle-class English accent the week I was sick and I was watching a lot of BBC America, but now it's slipping a little and becoming more Americanized (or Americanised). LMH doesn't seem to care, fortunately.

I wonder, as LMH grows up, whether she will hear my characterizations in her head.

Were you fond of Lewis Carroll when you were growing up? When you read it, how do you hear the characters' voices?