The days march, the apartment echoes, the tears well up. It’s my last week in Brooklyn, and I’m alternately excited and devastated. Saying goodbye is never easy, especially when it’s a place you feel so incredibly at home in.
Won't you meet my neighbor?
Eugene, my neighbor of 9 years, turned 92 last week. He’s the oldest of the old-timers around here, and I’m sad to say I didn’t really meet him until about 18 months ago. You see, he’s lived in the house next door for over 70 years, and in this neighborhood his entire life, and he’s not forgotten a thing. I can’t really think about the 7 years I didn’t know him, and just enjoy every minute I get to sit on his porch and listen to his stories. He has no end of them, that’s for sure.
Laying Down My Wand Day ... is today!
Bridget has declared it so, and I like it.
A day when we all kick back and appreciate that we are doing our best and that more often than not, our best is good enough. A day when we acknowledge all of those around us who are doing the same. One day a year where we proudly wear the crown of best wife, mother, daughter and friend. One when guys can be the best husband, father, son and friend. A day when we all make a secret pact to be happy with who we are. (And if we aren’t, we’ll promise to do better.)
A quick look back, and a happy New Year!
The boys got a huge kick out of sounding the steam whistles themselves … nothing like boys getting to make super-loud noises in the middle of the night!
Happy 2012 to you all! We rang in the new year last night with our annual tradition of going to the steam whistle extravaganza down the street at the Pratt Institute (deets and video in the link). It’s great fun for all, and participation is encouraged so the boys had a ball pulling the cords to blast the things off, listening to the calliope, and running around like maniacs playing with balloons.
Friday Roundup
Bringing you my favorite blog-finds this week, enjoy!
We, Who Need Such Great Mysteries / Her Bad Mother muses on death and life and faith. It’s beautifully written and clearly articulates the struggles she’s going through. A wealth of honest comments too.
In Defense of the F-bomb / I started a bit skeptical, but I have to say DaMomma lays it out pretty clearly! It centers on her struggles with Doctors after her 3rd daughter was born.
Agave Nectar: Good or Bad? / Food Renegade does a great job of clearly toting up the evidence about how good Agave Nectar is (or isn’t) for you. I find her posts are always thoughtful, well documented, and give me real food for thought. I’m on an anti-sugar kick more strongly than usual thanks to the holidays, so this was timely :).
Nightingale Shiraz / All her posts this month … the quotes particularly got me, though her writing is as lyrical and aching as ever. Give her a chance, I did once and have always gone back for more.
Ice Breaker / Mrs. G’s tale of a boring icebreaker game about Your Most Interesting Hidden Talent has produced a fabulous list of comments which certainly bears reading, and weighing in on.
Those are my fave finds of the week, please share if you’ve got a must-read!
Q of the Week : Best and Worst moments of 2009?
It’s a New Year’s tradition to make resolutions, and I’m personally not that fond of them. I believe in change, by all means, but find most resolutions to be impractical unless they’re immediately shored up with concrete, manageable steps, and that’s just not looking fun to me right now! So I’m looking back for this week’s question, and will tackle those pesky resolutions in a post next week.
So getting to the point … What were the best and worst things about last year to you? I think my BEST answer is an easy one, it was the 2 days I spent with my mom and 93-year-old grandmother, visiting, eating, playing Scrabble, and getting her to reminisce. It. Was. Heaven. Getting her to dance the Charleston?
BEST is a relative term ...
Remember when you thought that Michael Jackson was the BEST dancer (ok, maybe some of you still do :), that Claire’s had the BEST jewelery and that Portillos had the BEST hot dogs? Or perhaps the BEST hair product was Aussie Scrunch Spray, and the BEST thing you could never have was a monogrammed sweater … because putting your initials correctly ( First LAST Middle ) would spell BRA right across your chest. Yup, I was crushed. My sister got one (green I believe) but I was left out of the game.
Anyhow, I ate at Olive Garden today.
Best ways to get back into 'normal' life?
As vacation winds down, and school is staring us in the face on Monday, I have a dilemma. Do we wring the most out of the last couple of days (that means bedtimes stay slidden into the 10pm range for the boys) or do we put them down closer to the normal time in preparation for having to be back on schedule on Monday? I dread having to get up earlier again, and having to go back to a fixed routine. I MUCH prefer to stay up late and get up whenever … and my boys do tend to sleep in pretty well when they’ve been up late. It’s a bit of a hypothetical question as we’ve already got dinner plans tonight, so the likelihood of anything resembling a normal bedtime is slim.
I always have this problem though.
The Best Thing I Never Knew I Needed*
Here’s to a new decade, a new year, and a somewhat clean slate! As I’m resolving to at least complete the first month of NaBloPoMo, I’ll try to give a nod most days to their chosen theme of BEST. To start my year off with some gratitude (which I’ve been short on lately), here are the top ten BEST things from 2009, in no particular order …
1. We all stayed healthy. No flu, a few colds and coughs and sore muscles, but absolutely nothing I can label as sick. I think Fynn had a fever of 100 for one day? Pretty amazing for a family of 4 with two kids in school!
2. We took a long road trip that included territory-scouting for where we’d like to move, lots of family, a wedding, some good camping, and a second visit to my 93-year-old grandmother.