Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Remember to eat your peas {and collards}.

Black Eyed Peas are a staple of New Year's Eve/day around here.
We always ate them when I was little.
They give you good luck for the new year, you know.
My sister used to take about three like pills b/c she did not like to eat them, LOL!
That was a creative solution, no?

Collards are said to bring wealth.
That was something other people said, and I am sure it is a regional 
tradition, but we did not do that at my house.

In a bit, I am off to get my peas from my Mama's house.
Some for me, and some for the kids.
We all need good fortune, and my kids will actually eat peas.
I will bring some home for Andy.
We are gonna eat oysters for our NYE meal, and watch Taylor Swift on TV.


We do not have any collards to eat, that I know of, but I might find some by the end of the day...
You just never know, collards are pretty ubiquitous around here.
Don't these look yummy?
I can tell you, they are. :)





Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Eva playin babies {2}

Eva was playing and playing this morning.  I just love to watch her play.  While she played I ate breakfast, worked out, and showered.  This whole time she was just a playin!  When I was in my room getting ready (see bottom picture) she was sitting on my bed cutting up a piece of yellow cardboard into tiny bits.  For a brief second I thought...why in the world is that so fun for all kids?  Mindlessly cutting up paper into tiny bits...it's done by all kids all over, and cleaned up by all moms.  I did not say one word, and I quickly quelled all negative thoughts.  I just watched and listened.  Turns out she was making homemade macaroni and cheese for her babies! yep.  A foodie mom, that Eva is!  She said her babies just love it.  They love all the food she makes, "They will eat anything in the whole state!"  --that is how good her babies are!  After they ate half the bowl of homemade mac n cheese she read them a book.  Then they took a drive in the doll baby car.  Those babies have it good, real good!
This post sort of harkens back to my old posts.  I realized that I want to keep this stuff in my memories.  It is absolutely precious to me.  Precious.  
PS--on a not-so-precious note, I have to be the freakin tooth fairy and Santa tonight!  WTF??
Andy is at work, so a lot of imaginary shit is all on my shoulders tonight.  For a person who finds {pretend} play to be so enchanting, having to pretend my ownself presents quite a burden for me!




Tuesday, December 23, 2014

The last road trip {home}

Suzanne had driven this drive for twelve years.  She could check herself out at exit 273B and check back in when she had to make the big U turn to get onto 264.  No biggie.  Only this time her Toyota Camry was filled to the brim with babies and stuff.  She had all the last bits of stuff from the condo and two toddlers in the car, and she was headed to her furnished and well-loved house in Wishington. The first thing she would want to do was drink a cold beer with her friend under the carport at her house and just hang out.  Maybe a road trip to the beach for the day was in the cards...just like in high school.
Suzanne sought out all the fun things to do in Wishington.  Each Saturday there was a local farmer's market downtown on the waterfront! (yippie!)  She did want to go back to her church and just see where she wanted to go to church....the little, country church where she grew up, or the bigger in-town church where she was confirmed and attended youth group--such a toss up! Meanwhile Randy was investigating a new career, one that would have him working in town, instead of traveling all the time (which had driven Suzanne a bit crazy, what with all the babies and all).
Suzanne and Randy spent the summer fighting and making up, and eating {Friday night  pizza} straight out of the Animal Vegetable Miracle recipes.  They went swimming in the river and at the Country Club Pool--as {visitors} of Randy's parents.  The summer was a mix of crazy, mad, and fun. They only had the fall to look forward to, which would bring a new job for Suzanne and more school for Randy.  --More. School.
Suzanne's {friends} had yet to come out of the woodwork.  That one from highschool was mostly in Hiding--there were no spur of the moment moments of camaraderie.  Some times people from far away ventured into the swamp to visit--and that was awesome!
Suzanne quickly realized that going to the grocery store up the road was an invitation to FREAK out. There was zero anonimity.  If you were to bet a pay check on seeing a known person--you could make double pay all the time.  She ALWAys saw someone she knew.  Or, she knew people who knew her (mama and daddy) were all around.  Yes.  True.
She was still blissful, however.
Still full of bliss!

Thursday, December 18, 2014

back to the condo

I realized, after I wrote that last post, that there was nothing about a condo in the post!
The condo was the cozy little spot where Randy and Suzanne and their two toddlers camped out with the bare minimum before they moved back to Wishington.  It was old, the tub only ran scalding hot water, there was only one eye on the stove--it was bare bones, but it was still in a place that was near TJ Maxx, a Harris Teeter, a highway...you get the picture.
The condo living was kind of fun.  Plus Suzanne had all the excitement of knowing that soon she would be back in her picturesque small town surrounded by all of the people she {knew} and loved.
The six weeks of living in that Condo were dear ones.  The children caught lightening bugs in the grassy yard.  They ate mulberries from the mulberry bush in the yard.  Suzanne spent her time reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, and Skinny Bitch.  Both of these books would be very influential for Suzanne for the whole summer to come.  Meanwhile, Randy continued to travel for his beloved job as an archaeologist.  He was not at the condo too much.  They also enjoyed those last several weeks by going to farmers' markets, and music festivals all over their urban jungle paradise.
So that is the condo in a nutshell.
Fun.  Short.  Sweet.  Bare bones.  It was the last chapter in Suzanne's story of living not in her town.
Soon, they were off!
Next stop, A road trip {home} to stay.

Monday, December 15, 2014

The condo and transitions

The house was sold!  Suzanne had to find a new place to be.  She put the word out in her office and quickly found a small condo in the small city nearby to stay in for her transition period.  She and hubby could finish up the school year and then head back home.
Over Easter they had the opportunity to have a sneak preview of what moving home would be like.  They had moved all of their posessions (besides the bare minimum) into the rental house/grandma's house in Wishington. So an Easter break in the house would be a little taste of what life would be like after the big move.
The house was so sweet!  So cute on the outside, and completely fixed up on the inside.  Freshly re-finished hard wood floors, freshly painted walls.  The memory from that partial week would never leave that little snapshop memory place in Suzanne's mind.
The house felt very cold, and the paint smell was noxious!
A tiny feeling of panic set in.  Suzanne was realizing that she was leaving behind...all of her anonimity, all of her whole foods, all of her friends, all of the malls and intrigue the bigger place...to move
{home}.
The easter bunny came --in Wishington--as he would for years to come.

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Cruising into middle age like an Elephant on ice skates!

Yep!  It hits me--now at 36.
I have to dye my hair.
Hello Sally Beauty Supply and bottles of dye...are you ready for some fun every four months or so?
This is a first, and not something that I enjoy doing.
....and to think I have always thought (in the back of my mind) that I would not mind being a hair cutter.
THEN-- I could not shake my fall {funk} so I had to resort to some happy pills...yep, check that box off on the {list of things for middle aged women}.
Also, there is a blob on my middle that does not want to go anywhere--it just wants to grow.
SO, I feed it, with whateverintheworld I want to eat.
Against all logic (no, it is not a meal time).
Against all food rules (don't eat so much meat, it is Horrible for you).
Against all emotion--If you get a big belly you really will have emotional issues.
I EAT!
ick...
One more thing...wrinkles--they are putting themselves all over.  Around my eyes...my laugh creases, my "serious" forehead wrinkles. I have to be serious a lot apparently, that is why those gouges are on my forehead--b/c I have to look so serious or inquisitive, What? Really?
What in the world?  Yesterday I went to take a passport picture and the girl at Walgreens was going to offer to take it again...I just said, "What's the use?"  I have figured out in my 36 years--in the past two or so--that you can take the picture over and over--and it is going to look just about the same.  Yeah.  True.  So away I cruised with my dyed hair, no smile, laugh line passport pictures tucked neatly into the junky compartment of my grocery getter.  Not really satisfied, but feeling accomplished.
I do not want to be middle aged--but what is the other choice?
Hee hee.
That is my Dad would say.
Also, does anyone remember that commercial where the woman would say, "I don't intend to grow old gracefully, I intend to fight it every step of the way."
omm...that might be me.

Spot on!

Spot is our family's chihuahua.  He is what we call, "an evil dictator/stuffed animal come to life".  Sometimes, after he has ...