I really settled into summer this past week. With the HH air conditioner crisis solved, one child gone at Boy Scout camp, and a fairly “normal” work week, I officially shifted into the summer pace of life. No school. No super early mornings. No afternoon shuffle. It’s delightful.
If you are a mother of very young children, in the stage where the summer season doesn’t really bring with it any major changes to your schedule (babies still expect to eat!), let me encourage you with the reality that one day, your children will sleep longer and so will you. I am loving this stage of parenting where I can set my alarm a little bit later and enjoy a summer state of mind.
Here is what we talked about this week…
ONE.
Raccoons. We all watched the raccoon climb up the building, which led into a hilarious retelling of our raccoon capers. I feel it’s time to let you in on the fun.
We have raccoons that come to the dumpster behind the store every evening. When we take the trash to the dumpster after an evening event, they are always there, feasting on whatever has accumulated. From time to time, when we throw the trash into the dumpster, they will scurry out and scatter in every direction and cause us to freak out and scream. It’s funny, but also not funny in the moment.
Well, from time to time, when we go to the dumpster in the morning, we will see evidence that they have had an especially good evening enjoying their trash dinner. There is a little shelf on the far side of the dumpster, and we will see an empty can or a half-eaten piece of fruit or something resting on the shelf. We have concluded that the shelf is where they put whatever they don’t want anymore.
A couple of weeks ago (and I am kicking myself for not taking a picture to prove it) we walked out to the dumpster one morning and discovered a sparkle sandwich cookie sitting on the shelf. It was mostly intact, with a few nibbles taken out of one side. It’s as if they said, “Ugh. These again? Where’s the chicken carcass and rotten tomatoes? Who wants this fancy cookie?” We laughed so hard at those ridiculous raccoons. Good times.
TWO.
Did you know that you can order a personalized Moleskine notebook? My fried Kara clued me into this fun fact, and the gifting possibilities are vast! Moleskines are such a classic, timeless gift, but the opportunity to personalize them really takes the gift to the next level. On the website you can choose the size, color, and even the type of pages to have inside the notebook (blank, lines, graph paper, dots). Then you can add a two line personalization…which is really cool because you aren’t limited to just a monogram or a name. When I clicked on the website today I also noticed they are offering free personalization. Early Christmas shopping anyone? So many fun options!
THREE.
This past week one of my blog posts gained quite a lot of traction. These things are always relative, and so while the number of page views my post received was a big deal to me, compared to other mainstream posts it was not a huge number. We try not to take ourselves too seriously over here, so we did not pass up the opportunity to develop a new scale to determine the perceived scope of influence for any particular post.
On the one extreme is the idea of going viral. Going viral is when millions of people click on something you post. Viral is a big deal. On the opposite end of our spectrum is called “going hypochondriac,” which is the worst because you think you’re a big deal, but really you are not. The steps in between hypochondriac and viral are as follows: going asymptomatic, going allergic, going airborne, and going bacterial. It makes sense, right?
I feel comfortable saying my post went allergic this week.
FOUR.
My favorite photograph this week was of the rainbow stack of Ina’s cookbooks. Looking at all of those beauties stacked up in all of their glory inspired in me a new life goal. I’m not sure when it will make sense to take on this project, but at some point in the near future, I want to take a calendar year and cook every single of her published recipes. I want to map it out, plan menus, develop a timeline, and then I want to chronicle the entire process. Would that not be the most amazing year?? Of course, I will need corporate sponsorship to pay for this project, so give me a ring if you’d like to partner with me on this journey. It will happen.
FIVE.
Fourteen years later, I finally watched The Greatest Showman, and I have a few silly observations to share. Emphasis on silly.
I know it’s a wig, but I desperately want Michelle Williams’ hair in that movie. Blonde, long, thick, full of body. Perfectly coiffed at every turn.
Is the opera singer Jenny Lind the person who inspired the crib? My frame of reference for Jenny Lind is a style of furniture. Same person?
I thought the music was top notch. Involuntarily emoting is a sign of a good song in my book. “Why am I crying? I don’t even care about these characters! But this song is so good!” There was a lot of that in my head while I was watching.
Hugh Jackman is super good at crying. I believed his tears. But, also, am I supposed to view him as a hero? Because I kind of think he was a bit of a jerk. I’m glad he chose his wife and kids at the end, but along the way he was terrible.
And what about that elephant at the end? Does he just hang out in the street in winter? That can’t be right.
SIX.
Who Wore It Best.
Happy Season Two. She’s excited.
Have a lovely weekend!
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