Everyday Delights, Volume V - February 19 - March 4

February 19

I am delighted that my husband knows me really well - well enough to know that I deeply appreciated the Moroccan Lamb Stew he made over the weekend (crazy good), but that by Tuesday I would start chewing slower, serving smaller portions to myself, and get that look about me that prompts him to ask me, "is it becoming work?".  So, he spontaneously asked if maybe we'd want to go out for an easy dinner instead.  Cue MOD Pizza, which I happen to love and is still a sort of novelty to me since I haven't been more than three times.  My lack of visits also means I am not expecting any of the several questions asked of me at every step of the way down the pizza-building-block line and fumble awkwardly at every single one.  The employees probably wish they could get those precious moments of their work flow back, but I'm just over here enjoying my barbecue chicken and gorgonzola.  I think.  Maybe it was bleu.  Or maybe the list said it was supposed to be bleu but that was the one I changed to gorgonzola because I wanted to put a stamp of originality on my otherwise novice pizza?  Anyway, I will happily return to lamb stew tomorrow, after such a delightful improvisation of dinner.

February 20

You probably know I'm on a joyous, voluntary leave of absence this year from teaching to hang out with Arthur.  The first several weeks when school started back in August felt strange and I felt kinda lost as to how I should spend my energy on a daily basis.  Of course this went away over time as I settled into a new routine and let go of the "shoulds" guilty nonsense.  BUT, I gotta say that snow days are one of the few things that immediately jolt me back in synchronicity with the teaching community.  I still take great giddiness in seeing social media posts about delays and closings, even though it changes nothing about my day's activities (other than maybe a small thing that was optional in the first place might be cancelled).  The other thing snow days do is remind me to really carpe diem the day - you never know if this is the last chance, right?  You can put on the snow clothes one more time, right?  You'll feel silly if this ends up being the last snow of the season and you didn't even bother to step in it, right?  Added bonus:  Matt got to spend most of the day with us and made "pops" (popovers) for breakfast and amazed us with his ability to throw a snowball increasingly farther across the frozen lake.  And also into the side of my neck when I'm not paying attention, which I admit makes me irrationally irritable.  

P.S.  The only thing I know about anything is that I wanna be a baseball mom and that second picture gives me excited hope.  

February 21

I had a "me" day in Culpeper.  Davis Street downtown is exactly 65 minutes from our driveway.  I listened to Prince the entire way down (am I the only one still getting teary while intently listening?) and podcasts the entire way back.  I browsed shops and stocked up on those artsy cards that I sometimes frame, sometimes send, but only purchase from locally owned shops in Culpeper or Winchester.  I got some great deals on toddler clothes at the little consignment shop.  The perfect little birthday gift for my friend Kevin presented itself in a woodcrafting shop.  I had an amazing lunch at Foti's, while catching up with Grant.  Foti's catered our rehearsal dinner and wedding and Grant was the lead server then and is still there now and he is very nice.  He helped pack up a delicate dessert to bring home with me.  I had a warm, gooey molasses cookie and hot chocolate at the bakery and read at a sun-streaked table by the window.  Every single person I encountered engaged in at least a little small talk, including the guy taking the trash out behind the buildings when I was taking the picture above.  I met a family from the Virginia Beach area with two cute toddlers who are moving to the central Virginia area soon and were in town to check things out.  Their little boy was babbling at the table and it sounded so similar to Arthur that I looked up and accurately guessed his age, starting the conversation.  The weather required no winter coats, hats, or gloves, and it was perfect for meandering outside.  Just enough of a getaway without the preparations or sorting out of a getaway.  

February 22

These little chalkboards were $5 at Target.  This little stretch of wall on the way to the kitchen is underused and was already scratched up before installation.  Winning combination.  

We also hosted a small dinner gathering tonight, which I happen to love doing even though it's work-intensive.  Matt did the cooking, I did the shopping and house preparations.  Our guests had never been to our house before, nor had we ever really gotten this particular group of people together, and it was a nice mix.  There were even two child-guests and everyone got along peacefully with very little intervention required on the part of the adults.  I'm always relieved when something like that socially relaxes itself quickly and easily, and that's how the evening went.  I hope they come over again soon.  Also, hooray for the Washington Post's recent SuperBowl weekend chili recipe...it's quite good.  

February 23

This picture represents every single bit of our family's music collection and the means to listen to it all.  This project has been a long time coming.  In my life, I have moved seven huge, heavy boxes of CDs all over the state of Virginia - from Salem to Harrisonburg to Fairfax to Sterling to Herndon to Reston to Reston to Reston.  It's pretty ridiculous, actually.  Then there's all the vinyl.  Granted, our vinyl collection isn't even that robust, but it's factorable. 

After several days of using nap-time to sort through it all, I donated approximately 300 CDs to the Goodwill.  It's been over a month and I'm still thinking about it, which tells you how hard a thing that was for me to do.  It's the only donation of things (and I've done many) that I am emotionally wrapped up in..."should I have given them to THAT Goodwill or should I have returned to Harrisonburg, you know, to bring them back HOME?!* Wouldn't they maybe appreciate coming full-circle?  And what about that little record/CD shop that used to be in Salem...I could've contacted THAT guy (with absolutely no information on my side as to his name or whereabouts) and asked him if he wanted these CDs".  These CDs feel like a huge representation of my life, almost like a diary, even though so many of them weren't listened to nearly enough to warrant such an attachment.  But procuring music felt like a skill in my high school and college years.  It was an identity.  You don't have ALL of the Led Zeppelin CDs?  Psssh.  You're NOT in the BMG Music Club?  (those little stamps!) I suppose it's my only real collection.  I don't collect anything else in the way I collected music.  So it was more than a little painful to drive away, watching the boxes fade away in my rear view mirror, sitting there on a cart next to someone else's old blender and golf clubs. 

But don't worry!  I kept about 380 for the long haul.  And they are proudly alphabetized (more days of nap-time usage) and very carefully inserted (some with the liner notes, some not) into one of those nice Case Logic binders.  Not as impressive maybe as one of those grand wall-shelf units that I always imagined I'd have to proudly display them all, but a much smaller footprint.  So...seven boxes down to a binder.  Marie Kondo would be proud.  I still feel a little nauseous.  

If our house catches fire, it's okay to tuck the binder under one arm, so long as I can get Arthur under the other one, right?  

Matt very kindly put the furniture together (not easy), and I delightfully loaded everything into it and hooked all necessary wires together while listening to Purple Rain on the turntable.  

*anyone else ever read Tom Robbins' "Skinny Legs and All"?  I've turned to inanimate object humor the past 20 years in times of stress.  That book is brilliant. 

February 24

I finished reading The Count of Monte Cristo today.  Good grief.  I mean, delightful to get through it, but...most of my verbal reactions at the end of chapters were simply, "whoa".  What a story.  It's so...complicated.  Yet, not.  A guy is wronged, he plots revenge, he gets revenge, the end.  I'm so glad I read it, and it feels like a success of monumental proportions that I did so.  I do highly recommend it on the list of classics I'm always aspiring to finish.

And later, I trekked out to DC for a lovely and kinda raucous dinner party for my friend (Kickball) Kevin at District Chop House.  And as usually happens when I hang out with Kevin, I met some really interesting, eclectic people who have interesting lives and careers - all over delicious steak.  Here's to more years of (Kickball) Kevin!  

February 25

 I took a CPR/AED certification class today.  That probably doesn't sound that fun, but I truly ended up enjoying it, surprisingly.  I've been feeling really guilty and anxious that I let my previous certification lapse, more especially after having a child, and now I feel extremely more empowered and slightly less anxious.  I mean, if the worst were to ever happen, let's face it - I'd be a nervous wreck.  But, I do have more updated knowledge to fall back on and I have more trust in that.  The teacher was wonderful.  She was energetic, she was enthusiastic, she was funny, she threw out Hershey's kisses for participation and for answering questions, and she was thorough, yet not redundant in presenting the information clearly.  She knew when to skip ahead in the video trainings when they got excessively repetitive, but also gave us the option of watching them again in case we wanted to process the information in that way.  The people in the class were from all different walks of life, which I also appreciated.  I've only ever taken CPR training with other teachers, so this time felt more real-world.  We did many, many practice scenarios and even did both team rescues and individual rescues - again, very real world.  

One gentleman in the class was there because he recently went through the process to be a volunteer EMT and needed this additional piece of training.  I kid you not, this guy was Fred Rogers reincarnated.  He was the sweetest, most gentle-natured, smiley, sincere guy I've met in a long time.  He retired from the federal government recently and will soon be a volunteer with the McLean Fire and Rescue unit.  I feel better about the world having met this man.  He loves his two cats, has grown children, and just has that way about him that makes you feel like life is gonna be OK, you know?  

February 26

We had dinner with the Berras!  Always a delight!  They also helped us out with an important errand we needed to do.  Thank the Lord ten times over that they moved back to NoVa.  Arthur and Sasie got to play together, and the two Matts got to catch up, and of course Michelle and I can talk for days if given the chance.  We joked that the two Matts (this is my second friend who also has taught music with me whose husband's name is also Matt...I'm well versed in differentiating) should take the CPR class together, after telling them about how much I enjoyed mine.  Some funny stuff happens when those two get together, it's just not as cute as the two-year-old set.  


February 27

Being an only child means I approach the world from certain angles that are a little different from others.  One of those angles is that I honestly forget to consider other people when I need help.  It's not that I had this cold, lonely childhood existence where I had to trudge through life desperately; it's just that asking others for help took a backseat to figuring it out myself.  If I couldn't figure it out myself, I would either not do that thing I was trying to do or maybe, only if I believed it was super important, I'd enlist help from someone really close like my mom.  But it'd have to be really important and I'd have to feel like I had exhausted all other options before I asked her.  My initial thought is always that other people already have their own stuff to do and my little thing is not something worthy of interrupting their life.  So, lots of times, I'd easily convince myself that the thing wasn't really that important or I'd figure out a second-best workaround.  

Fast forward to adulthood, during which I have married a not-only-child, and someone who is very considerate.  And, to my little psyche...BREAKING NEWS:  he seems to really value the idea that I get to do things that are important to me.   So, this morning, despite having a very full work schedule with meetings and things that are Important, he came home at 9:20am (I don't work for the government but 9:20am seems like a kinda task-intensive time period) so that I could rush off to a barre class, mostly because I would be traveling the next few days and would miss my chance to go over the weekend.  And all I had to do to arrange that was ask an itty-bitty question involving options of times I could maybe, if it wasn't inconvenient, get to a class.  Going to a barre class definitely does not match the Super Important Category of Super Necessary Things in my head to warrant interrupting someone's life to accommodate.  But there he was, cheerfully playing with Arthur while I tortured my outer thighs.  So, gold star to Matt for making my wants feel valued.  

February 28

We have started potty training.  Sorta.  Very casually.  It's everything I thought it might be, including hilarious.  When did we lose the joy of sitting on the potty?  Because two-year olds, or at least the one related to me, are SO overjoyed to sit on the potty seat, that it's kinda contagious.  Today, while sitting, Arthur was speculating on how...um...stinky something might be (hypothetically) and said, "is gonna be OH LORD!".  I fell over laughing.  "Oh Lord" tends to come out of my mouth when the diaper is particularly...fragrant.  He's repeated it a few times before, but not consistently, and the fact that he recalled that phrase in a hypothetical way, to me is hilarious.  It's okay if it's less hilarious to you.  I completely understand.

March 1

Today was the "BIG suprise!".  My mom got tickets to Sesame Street Live! in Roanoke.  We didn't tell Arthur in advance, only that there would be a surprise later in the day.  His only guesses beforehand involved "ressuraunt and mac and cheese".  Close.

This was a pretty big experience for little people.  We did the meet-and-greet thing beforehand (extra ticket) and to my surprise, we were escorted onto the actual stage (huge) and the characters popped out of the set to do little skits and interact with the kids.  I'm 39 years older than my son and even I was a little overwhelmed.  But he loved it.  He got to give Big Bird a high-five and take a picture with him.  That's the part he is still talking about days later.  Cookie Monster ate cookies above us and dropped crumbs from his window.  Oscar the Grouch taught us how to sing about loving trash.  (Also, he is very scary.  We had to leave a large distance.)  The steps in front of 123 Sesame Street seemed too big and too far away from Mama for a picture there.  But we had a lot of fun and the show itself was cute and well done.  He has asked every day if we were going "back to Sesame Street place?"  

Looking up at Cookie Monster. 

They had a dress-up station.

It was this little girl's 3rd birthday and she came dressed as Abby.  So sweet.  They are watching in fascination as Elmo entertains the other group of meet-and-greeters.  

March 2

Today I got to have a full, 80-minute conversation with a friend, uninterrupted, over a glass of French red wine.  It was one of those perfect catch-ups where we didn't cover every single necessary topic, but we covered most of the important ones and I left feeling very refreshed and grateful in that wow, what a great friend kind of way.  I've known Cyrus since I was 17, we come from similar backgrounds, he is one of the smartest and most talented people I know, and he's been there for many stepping stones of my life.  His family is wonderful, his children adorable, and his work in the Roanoke community is invaluable as the Executive Director of the Jefferson Center.  Similar to three days ago, another moment with someone who is quite busy, so I'm thankful for it.  

March 3

Arthur loves his granny.  He changes the tone of his voice when he even says the word 'granny', to this longer, smiley, "aw shucks" kind of sound.  This was us at the local ice cream shop / deli in town, on a day that was not ice cream shop weather.  They had a great time all weekend playing and reading and bouncing on knees and talking and laughing.  

March 4

We're taking another zoo class!  We did one back in November, and it was so great that I got him into another one as soon as our schedule would allow.  This is at the DC zoo, so it's our most ambitious outing of the week, but we are FONZ members and get the free parking and a small discount on registration fees.  If you've ever wondered about these classes...they are wonderful.  They're 90 minutes, which sounds insane for toddlers, but they break it into three parts:  interactive stations (hands-on learning stations about the focus animal of the week), circle time (stories, songs, movement, short info about the animals), and a zoo walk to the particular animal we're focusing on.  The teacher gives kind of a walking lecture on the way and tells us what we can look for when we get to the exhibit.  I always, always learn something that I didn't know before.  The class then ends out in the actual zoo, and you can explore as long as you want.  I'm also getting in great shape pushing the stroller back uphill to get to the car every week, so that's a bonus!  

Today we learned about swamp monkeys.  We also learned the difference between monkeys and apes (hint:  one has a tail, the other does not).  In the picture above, Arthur is playing at one of the stations - a swamp with water, trees, logs, rocks, and monkeys to pretend-play.  We also caught shrimp with a webbed hand (plastic bag over our hands), used tongs to groom monkey fur, and made monkey tails to wear.  We also make a craft that we can add onto each week and eventually take home after the last class.  The teacher is wonderful, is very obviously well-versed in the preschool set, and the overall presentation of the class is top-notch.  

Not a swamp monkey.  Arthur calls it a "RANG-TANG".  Indeed.