This morning Misty invited us to the Gateway for the children’s museum’s Halloween Party. Abe and I counted and realized that the girls will have gone to TEN Halloween celebrations by the time the actual day rolls around! Crazy, but I love this holiday.
I put Mary in Lydia’s old monkey costume, but Mary wanted to wear the wings Ina gave her. No problem–I let her, and she went dressed as a flying monkey!
I spent the rest of the day reading Dracula. Then Abe and I went to the temple and decided there that we need to move to Provo by Dec 1st. I am going to drop out of school this quarter so I can pack, house hunt, and MOVE. It’s going to be crazy, but once it’s done, I have a feeling it’s going to feel very worth it.
Today started off with a wonderful reunion with some old friends, Jan, Chelsea, and Chelsea’s kids: Olivia (3), Carter (1) and Camden (1). Her boys are fraternal twins, and I think this is the first time I’ve met them in person. It was so fun to see them again, and I started to wonder again why we aren’t moving to Provo (Chelsea lives in Orem–right next door to Provo).
After meeting up at the Discovery Gateway Children’s Museum, we headed home for lunch. Olivia was a doll and listened to Lydia blab on and on about her cat while they pretended to have tea. The twins were so cute and need to be in the same room to sleep. We stuck them in Mary’s closet together and they slept beautifully. It was fun to see their different personalities, too!
I just love Jan and Chelsea, and it honestly felt like a family reunion of sorts. Here are some pictures that Jan took:
And from lunch:
Today was also sort of a soup heavy day. I made chili for lunch, and then I remembered I signed up to bring dinner to a woman in our ward, so I made lentil soup after that. During class tonight we made split pea soup and chicken waterzooi. To be perfectly frank, I am less than enthusiastic my other group member tonight, but I got to exercise…patience. I was sorely, sorely tempted to be less than kind (am giving into temptation now by writing about it on the blog), but I just kept thinking: appearance vs. reality, appearance vs. reality. Who knows what kind of hardships this person has endured? My experience of her is so minute compared to the scope of her life and intentions. That said, I am dreading next week because we have to work together for one more week. I just hope some other group members show up so the experience will be somewhat diluted.
So it was a kind of social high/low day. I loved my reunion with Jan, Chelsea, and the kids, and I kind of hated my life a little bit during class. And I just saw some big fireworks from the window as I typed. I have no idea what they were for, but I guess I’ll take that as a sign to sign off.
Oh, and here’s a photo from two days ago that was on my iPad and I never posted. Lydia pre-quiet time.
The one solitary picture I took occurred during our morning play date with Misty, Sophia, and Max. We went to the Discovery Gateway Children’s Museum together, and this is what Lydia and Sophia did while we checked in:
Yep. They’re cute.
Then we came home, ate lunch, and had naps/quiet time. I’ve been feeling sick and I knew I had five hours of class tonight, so instead of hightailing it to the piano, I crawled into bed with Beethoven’s latest biography. I have loved learning more about him, but this one thing stuck out to me: One of his guests described his apartment, and in doing so noted that there was, I kid you not, an unemptied chamber pot underneath the piano. All the chairs had food and clothes strewn all over them, and there was a mountain of dust on the piano. The author noted that Beethoven literally lived in squalor. Can you imagine? He composed his magnificent work in that!!! I should really ease up about the kitchen floor.
A lot of other tender, funny, and truly sad moments touched me today, but since it’s almost midnight, we’ll have to leave on the note of Beethoven’s unemptied chamber pot.
But I also had my first lab class tonight, and I L.O.V.E.D. it. My teacher is a former middle school English teacher who gave that up to go to cooking school and ended up at Chez Panisse. She is very funny, knowledgeable and has endearing mannerisms. We worked on dicing, stocks, and kitchen etiquette/clean-up today. I have great classmates who all seem to be team players, and it was just fun. I was worried that the late hour of the class (6 – 11 pm) would be hard, but the material was so riveting I had no problem paying attention.
Okay, one last anecdote about Alice Waters, since my teacher worked for her. She told us that when Alice Waters came to town, everyone at the restaurant would have to change routines. In Alice’s absence, they would use the fireplace as a cooling station and set up the kitchen for efficiency. When Alice Waters visited, they’d be warned in advance and set up the kitchen for her arrival by lighting a fire in the fireplace and setting out vases of fresh herbs all around the kitchen. I guess even Alice Waters can be out of touch sometimes. (She did note that the restaurant had an incredible vibe and notably egalitarian spirit; the chef world is normally very hierarchical, but nothing of that sort is tolerated in Alice’s Berkely kitchen.)
Anyway, I spent the day with my children, Misty, Sophia, Max, Beethoven and Alice Waters (and Job and Nephi). Not bad for a Thursday.
This morning we got off to a rocky, tantrum-y start; I even had the thought, “Oh, no! It’s only 8:30am and I’ve already had it up to HERE with being a mom!” …but things got better as soon as I took the girls to the Gateway Children’s Museum. They had so much fun playing in the water, “shopping,” climbing up stuff, and decorating paper stockings. We were the only ones who signed up for the stocking class, so they had the whole quiet craft room to themselves. It was such a nice note to end on, and the girls were both perfectly behaved–Mary didn’t even poop until we got back home. So considerate of her.
Lydia and I spent Mary’s nap reading a bunch of Christmas stories and playing the Primary book’s Christmas songs together, and at dinner I almost lost my voice cheering for every single bite Lydia took of her squash. (She took approximately 30…I lost count around 23 because around then I started cheering and playing high-five and tickle/hug games with Lydia in between each bite.) I cuddled Mary a lot, and basically enjoyed my children for the rest of the day. I ended up LOVING being a mom today.
After the kids went down, I learned a really simple, sweet piece called “Shepherd Boy,” by Grieg. The meditative, soft progression of the notes helped me reflect on the Good Shepherd and on the shepherds that visited Jesus. Considering one of my recording deadlines is fast approaching (the end of December–YIKES!), this was ultimately a foolish way to spend the limited time I have at the piano. But it also made my evening feel perfect, so I guess I don’t regret it that much.
I then discovered that Talenti ice cream containers are the perfect way to store the lemon curd I made today. I polished off the rest of the ice cream just in case I need another container tomorrow…
My friend, Cierra, gave me this recipe. It didn’t turn out like hers because I had to attend to several emergencies while I was supposed to be stirring, but it was still delicious. Here’s where she got her recipe.
The only thing that would make the evening even better is if Abe had not JUST started his trip home from Rock Springs. I hate him traveling those middle-of-nowhere roads in the middle of the night, but guess what? This is his last trip with Guardsmark! Hip, hip, hooray!
And so for today’s pictures:
Why did I cuddle Mary so much today? Well, she missed her morning nap because of our outing, and she was a little sad for the rest of the day. Also, she kept getting stuck on this chair.I forgot to post this picture from yesterday. Isn’t it cute?
I spent the rest of the day reading Dracula. Then Abe and I went to the temple and decided there that we need to move to Provo by Dec 1st. I am going to drop out of school this quarter so I can pack, house hunt, and MOVE. It’s going to be crazy, but once it’s done, I have a feeling it’s going to feel very worth it.
