random on Friday
E1. Stuart and I had our 14th anniversary this week. To say we celebrated properly would be a bit of a stretch, but no one was out of town for work or had an ear infection or needed five teeth pulled by the oral surgeon, so that's an improvement over the last few anniversaries we've had. Also, Stu grilled a chicken and the kids and I made a scrum-diddly-umptuous pecan pie - not worth a whole Tuesday Night Fun Cooking! post, I'm afraid, but here are a few pictures:
2. School starts in three weeks. I know some of you down South have gone back to school already, but up here kids are in school up to mid-June, so it feels like we've barely started summer break. At the same time, we're all getting bored with each other, bored with the park, bored with the same card games, bored with the library...it feels like a long haul to September.
3. We finally have a starting date for the Big Renovation. It's starting in September, four months after we'd originally anticipated, but this time it's happening for real (I think). Frankly, I'm dreading it. All in one week, the kids go back to school, I go back to my teaching job and (hopefully) lots of freelancing work, and some big burly guys will bust up the porch and dig a giant hole in my back yard. That's only the beginning. Then we'll have concrete poured, windows replaced, framing for the new addition, the roof torn off and replaced, and then after all that they'll knock down walls, pull out our 64-year-old metal cabinetry, carefully remove our asbestos-laden kitchen floor (yes, sigh) and start installing all the new stuff. Just thinking about dealing with all that plus my variable work schedule and schlepping the kids around has me on the verge of a panic attack.
4. Part of the renovation affects Anya's room. She has an unnecessary entrance to the kitchen, which will be walled off, and she'll be getting a new closet. I'm not sure where her stuff will go or where she's going to sleep in the meantime.
5. When they start the demolition we may need to move the fridge to the living room. I'm trying not to think about that too much.
6. For a time we'll probably be washing dishes in the bathtub. I'm trying not to think about that too much, either.
7. I'm feeling a little homesick these days.
8. I need some good fiction to read. I gobbled up Richard Russo's memoir Elsewhere (it's sad but good; read the NYT review here) and Elizabeth Cline's critique of the fast-fashion industry in Overdressed (distressing), but I think I need something juicy and escapist before all the shit hits the fan and my stress level spikes in a few weeks. Got any recommendations?
2. School starts in three weeks. I know some of you down South have gone back to school already, but up here kids are in school up to mid-June, so it feels like we've barely started summer break. At the same time, we're all getting bored with each other, bored with the park, bored with the same card games, bored with the library...it feels like a long haul to September.
3. We finally have a starting date for the Big Renovation. It's starting in September, four months after we'd originally anticipated, but this time it's happening for real (I think). Frankly, I'm dreading it. All in one week, the kids go back to school, I go back to my teaching job and (hopefully) lots of freelancing work, and some big burly guys will bust up the porch and dig a giant hole in my back yard. That's only the beginning. Then we'll have concrete poured, windows replaced, framing for the new addition, the roof torn off and replaced, and then after all that they'll knock down walls, pull out our 64-year-old metal cabinetry, carefully remove our asbestos-laden kitchen floor (yes, sigh) and start installing all the new stuff. Just thinking about dealing with all that plus my variable work schedule and schlepping the kids around has me on the verge of a panic attack.
4. Part of the renovation affects Anya's room. She has an unnecessary entrance to the kitchen, which will be walled off, and she'll be getting a new closet. I'm not sure where her stuff will go or where she's going to sleep in the meantime.
5. When they start the demolition we may need to move the fridge to the living room. I'm trying not to think about that too much.
6. For a time we'll probably be washing dishes in the bathtub. I'm trying not to think about that too much, either.
7. I'm feeling a little homesick these days.
8. I need some good fiction to read. I gobbled up Richard Russo's memoir Elsewhere (it's sad but good; read the NYT review here) and Elizabeth Cline's critique of the fast-fashion industry in Overdressed (distressing), but I think I need something juicy and escapist before all the shit hits the fan and my stress level spikes in a few weeks. Got any recommendations?
Comments
Sorry. I cannot recommend any good books. What I have been reading lately are non-fiction and in some respects pretty depressing, related to climate change, food supplies, and the like. I need to read something uplifting, perhaps of a scientist and the history of that period, and the accomplishments.
-Chanterelle