Wednesday, April 4, 2012

It's All Jon Hamm's Fault

Well, March came and went, didn't? I have many reasons and distractions as to why attention to my little blog was so scant during the Ides of March. But, I think I will just lay down all the blame at the well-tailored feet of Jon Hamm and the loveliness known as "Mad Men."

I watched three seasons on DVD. In about 3 weeks. That is 24 hours of television.
I am a little ashamed.

Enjoy how many ways one man can say "What?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsJSRP7cZVo

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Savoring the Extra Day

Things I wished I had done today on Leap Day:

1. Spent more time inhaling the sweet smell of my baby boy's hair.
2. Sleeping in
3. Reading
4. Laughing with a friend
5. Writing

Things I actually did today:

1. Idled in traffic
2. Rushed to work
3. Worked at a tedious job
4. Went to the dentist
5. Gave three kids messy baths and counted the minutes until bedtime

The best part of the day:

After rushing through dinner and cajoling three hyper, semi-clean kids into bed, I was in the middle of a half-hearted attempt to tackle the sink full of dishes when I caught myself and stopped.  I went into my daughter's room. She was still awake. She asked me earlier to read her a book. I said "No, too late, time for bed, c'mon, let's go! Brush your teeth! Hurry up!"

Seriously? Too late?

Who turns down a 5 year old's request to sit and read with them? What had my day been about?

Somewhere in the middle of all that I had to do today and all that I wished I had done, was the one absolute, certain thing I should have never hesitated to do.

Read to my daughter.

My 5 year old bundle of curls and spirit and attitude and love who one day will be 11, going on 15, going on 25. I will ask her to stop and sit with me and talk with me and laugh with me and she will be busy with her own world and her own life and remember the times when she was a little girl and she asked me to read to her and I said, No.

I curled up next to her and we read a book about a little boy who imagines what it is like to live in the jungle. She told me about the new eraser she got at school today and how she can't wait for her birthday.

It was the best fifteen minutes of my whole day.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

My Funny Valentine

My big kid, is eight years old going on about forty. He is a confounding mix of serious and silly and sensitive and strong. When he grows up, he want to "be just like Da Vinci and invent lots of new stuff."



His favorite song is "Unwritten" by Natasha Bedingfield. He learned it in first grade music class for the concert to celebrate the end of the school year. He was humming it in the car yesterday and told me "it is the most inspiring thing he has ever heard and the words make me really, really happy."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7k0a5hYnSI&ob=av2e

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Waves





I am so glad I took a moment to tilt my head upwards this morning and notice a perfect January sky.

Reminds me of "The Color Purple" by Alice Walker.

"...just wanting to share a good thing. I think it pisses God off when you walk by the colour purple in a field and don't notice it."

The morning sky was showing off it's purple. I was lucky to see it.



Tuesday, January 24, 2012

I want to go there.

Was meandering about from blog to blog and just read this intro to finslippy.com

"Why, hello there. Alice Bradley is a writer, and this is her blog."

I am a little in awe and envious. I want to declare the same with such authority, but fearful mine would be more along the lines of "Hey, what's up? Jennifer is a well-intentioned, somewhat scattered mother, who got way-laid professionally and this is her online Dear Diary."

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Nightswimming

I have always been a bit of a romantic, a sentimentalist who enjoys looking backwards from behind rose-colored glasses. With a milestone birthday arriving this year, I find myself being particulary caught under the spell of warm and welcome nostalgia.

Certain songs can bring me right back, like audio time machines, I am instantly transported to a moment and place. I spent a semester in Ireland. Six months in a somewhat ancient world that was all new for me.

There was a weekend trip to the Aran Islands. A cold, January excursion to Inishmore with new friends. I felt like I was perched at the edge of the world. We took an evening walk onto the beach. The strand of sand was illuminated by a full moon that shone like a spotlight on the waves of the cold Irish Sea.

I can't remember how the idea first came to us or who thought of it, but something in the air and in the moonlight was spellbinding and convincing enough that running, naked, into the cold, wintry, Irish water was the most appropriate and necessary thing for a bunch of girls to do.

"Nightswimming" brings me right back in an split instant to that crystal-clear moment of youthful exuberance. Plunging, laughing, shrieking into the icy water, with no concern for modesty or practicality. Far from home, ripe with possibility and full of ambition.

Nightswimming deserves a quiet night.

With the opening notes, I can taste the salt water on my skin and get goosebumps from the frigid air. I smile thinking about the naked abandon, literally, that overtook us for just a few moments. Pure joy.

These things, they go away, replaced by everyday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qx9br5ISRpo

Feeling Sassy!

This post from GoodFoodStories.com brought back some great vibes and memories about Sassy magazine. It feeds right into the current nostaglia trip I am on about the early '90s. Those were good times.

http://www.goodfoodstories.com/2012/01/16/eat-this-sassy-magazine/

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Is this thing on?

So, that was a longer break than I anticipated. I think my brain, or at least the part that can write more than a pithy Facebook status, took an extended hibernation for the past year.

I must pause now and take a moment to mourn all the brilliant musings and random thoughts that popped up and that I failed to capture and write down.

Some of them were epic. It is amazing what brilliance I am capable of while washing the dishes or stumbling down the hall at 2:00 a.m. to respond to baby #3's cries. But, during the day, while trying to be a fully-formed adult? Well, 2011 was a bit of a wash-out.

Onward, now then, near voyager, to 2012. The New Year's resolution gauntlet has been thrown down. Let the blogging commence.