4/18 The Day of Poetry and Porkchops

Sitting out in the garden after dinner, with S and the kids and Uncle. Feeling like Uncle is really part of the family…I mean, he’s always been a part of MY family, but he’s part of the family unit, even if he’s slightly (with good reason) afraid of the little ones.

Porkchops with mushrooms and rice. Nice and hearty, stick to your ribs kind of dinner. Boy and girl both really enjoyed the pork. Next time will pair with more G friendly sides. Or maybe just some sliced apples.

I DID NOT MAKE THE PORK CHOPS!!!! That’s right. S made dinner. I even took a photo for proof. To be fair, he has made pasta once and rice and beans once, although even he admitted it was more like mess hall cooking. It’s nice to not have to cook and still eat a square meal at home.

Got some writing done in my book. Not an hour’s worth of work, but I did manage about 500 words. Slowly, I think I am building my practice back up.

Read some of my old poetry. Some was too private and obscure and symbol laden, but some was actually good.

Wrote a poem. And another something that might count as a poem or perhaps serve as the start of another poem. Poetry is one of those muscles that need to be exercised in order to be functional.

Fell asleep after dinner, and woke up 20 minutes later not feeling worse… which all actually means I am getting sick. I don’t nap unless I am sick, I can’t. That’s not a happy thing, really, but it explains my abominable mood. So it’s not me that’s the bitch, it’s my cold.

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4/17 The Day of Colds and Some Non-Kid Things

Funny sitcoms, particularly 30 Rock and The Office. There was snorting involved.

A good email from a good friend. Actual communication because I caught her while she was on line so she wrote back right away.

That the boy actually fell asleep in our bed when he woke up so early, after waking up every half hour all night with a miserable cold. We all got a couple more hours of much needed sleep. Usually, he is unable to sleep in our bed with us. (It has been a struggle to come up with things today. Colds make for not so happies.)

Watching movies with the adults.

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4/16 The Day of Interviews and Perfect Walks

Leftovers in general, and last night’s leftovers in particular. What a lovely quick lunch. Oven fried chicken and rice with peas. The peas tasted particularly good in the rice. Yay mama.

The weather. It is quite cool for Florida, cool enough for the heat to come on in the house, but for a walk, it is brilliant. There’s not a cloud in the sky and the sun is nice and hot, but the air still has the little nip, so you never get too hot or too cool as you walk.

Walking the nine or so blocks back to the house from the interview, I called my old friend N to tell her that they would be calling her for a reference. We’ve worked together on and off since 1994. So good to hear from her. She’s taking drawing classes and is enraptured with it. I knew she had an artistic sensibility, but she was always insecure about painting or drawing. I do wish she was around, but at least we can talk on the phone and reconnect.

While talking on the phone with N, I started describing where I was and what I was doing and what I was seeing right there in the moment. I told her about the bright blue sky and the tall palm trees and the broad oaks and the pretty bungalows that I was passing as I walked. And, oh! the huge jasmine vine covering a fence. Aside from the various happinesses of all these things, it made me happy to be in the present and paying attention to it as it happened.

Taking a sprig or two of jasmine from the sprawling vine and tucking it in buttonhole of my jacket (yes, it is cool enough for a light jacket.) Then coming home and putting the jasmine into an old aspirin bottle. I intend to put it on my bedside table. Yes. I do. That’s a very good idea.

Making a fresh pot of coffee after deciding that one pot is not enough for three coffee fiends (uncle is on vacation this week, working on his cartoons feverishly and needs sustenance.) Usually I just sit and grumble about how every body is drinking my coffee and have a cookie or two instead.

Oh, and I haven’t got the job yet, but it seemed like a good possibility. The hours are just right to give me enough time with the kids and not be too hard to cover with childcare when S gets a job. That has to be a plus for them, because they said it was difficult to find someone who only wanted a few shifts, not full time. And I think it helped that I have lots of family here and that I was a teacher, since both bosses have connections to teaching. I guess I’m just waiting for the yay or nay call.

One good thing about not getting the job immediately is that I can be on vacation for a little longer. Don’t have to jump up and start working right away. Well, if being a full time mom to two toddlers is ever a vacation. Heck, a job waiting tables might be the vacation.

See more progress on: list three things every day that made me happy

4/15 The Day of The Young Bart Simpson, Live and Fighting Bedtime

My dinner came out well. Oven fried chicken with rice and peas sauteed in butter, pepper and salt. Everyone ate it but the boy, who might still be off from his encounter with the floor.

It made me feel virtuous to eat green vegetables, because I don’t nearly enough. I don’t even buy them because I’m so sick of people not eating them.

G and Ivy enjoying the hobby horses. Granted, I had to hold Ivy and the hobby horse and go “riding” around the room as if we were both on the horse, but both G and Ivy loved the game. We rode around the room making horsey noises.

Pancakes for lunch. It was really my late breakfast, but the kids saw me eating them and came up and demanded I feed them the pancakes. Basically, they stole my breakfast.

Running around in the garden with G, I realized that with G’s puffy lip from his fall yesterday, he looks JUST like Bart Simpson. Wild hair, Overbite/duckbill. Crazed lunatic like behavior. Don’t have a cow man. He’s a lot younger, but give him a few years.

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4/13 The Day of We Like to Stomp and We Like to Sleep (aka things we do on the floor)

The boy, who has been in the habit of getting out of bed and sleeping on the floor in front of the door, fell asleep on his mat… which in brilliant mom fashion, I placed on the floor [away from the door.] Sleeping nice and deeply, he is, with none of the upheaval and running around after sundown. And what did mama do? She left him there. It’s nice and warm and smooth and for some reason he had no trouble falling asleep tonight. Connection?

Made some of my chili for dinner. All the grown ups ate it.

Little girl likes to dance. It looks a lot like stomping around the room, sometimes on tippy toes. And when mama did some stomping too, she laughed and laughed and laughed.

My cousin brought her kids over today for a little while. Her oldest is also named G and he looks a lot like she did when she was little. Her youngest is a girl just a couple months younger than my G and they played and watched Dora, and G liked her flashing shoes.

Monk was on NBC. I’d seen it before, but it was fun to see. And Uncle has never seen Monk at all.

See more progress on: list three things every day that made me happy