reading for fun – Page 9

Happy

This morning, we went to preschool. Paige ran out for a minute to make copies, and in the meantime I experienced a bit of heaven. It looked like this:

These girls are collaborating on a puzzle. They're saying things like, "Sophia, do you think this goes here?" "Here, Lydia, I think it goes here." — These girls are collaborating on a puzzle. They’re saying things like, “Sophia, do you think this goes here?” “Here, Lydia, I think it goes here.”

I sat on the couch and felt happy.

Then Paige came back and read to the girls. They all loved that:

Ada tried on Lydia's coat and Audrey's boots. They suited her. — Ada tried on Lydia’s coat and Audrey’s boots. They suited her.

After preschool, we raced to the church because, guess what? Institute now has a nursery! I’ve never been to our stake institute class, and I was shocked to find the two parking lots so full that I struggled to find a spot. I was a little late, but today’s topic was Joseph Smith in the Kirtland years (from what I gathered). There was a lot of talk about how the writings of Paul are echoed in the articles of faith and in the Book of Mormon.

Then home for lunch, play, naps, homework, piano and reading (I am in the middle of The Fellowship of the Ring, and it was with the greatest reluctance that I set that aside to blog tonight).

Somewhere in there, I made another souffle (I am addicted), cleaned the kitchen, fed the girls dinner, and ran some soup over to Anique. We have a little exchange going on, and it was my turn. I am boring and always send over lentil soup, and she sends me all kinds. Maybe next week I’ll branch out…

Here are some pictures Abe took right before we put the girls to bed.

:Lydia got tickled. (And at one point, she jerked up and bonked my teeth. I feel so bad because I think she's going to bruise.) — :Lydia got tickled. (And at one point, she jerked up and bonked my teeth. I feel so bad because I think she’s going to bruise.)

Roomie reunion

This morning I practiced my knife skills by cutting a bunch of vegetables for lentil soup. The veggies came out noticeably uneven. Also, upon later consumption, I realized that the soup was unsalted and the veggies were practically raw. Yuck! Then I prepped a sweet potato souffle and rushed to play group with the kids. I forgot to bring Lydia’s bike, but that was okay since we didn’t stay long. My old roommates were in town, and as soon as they called, I rushed out of play group to meet them at home.

At one point I calculated that during my single years I had sixty-eight roommates. Granted, I counted my mission roommates, who would change up every six weeks. I also counted people I lived with for as short as a couple weeks. But I think it’s safe to say that those ten years had a variety of living situations, and during that time, my period with the roommates I saw today stands out in memory as one of the happiest living arrangements of my life. I loved my life with them, and it was truly uplifting to see these lovely, fun, funny, kind, intelligent, affirming women today. Vanessa is expecting baby Tessa in March, and Shandi has two kids, one a month older than Lydia and one GORGEOUS baby who is a couple months old.

Our kids got along great, and I loved, loved, loved visiting with Shandi and Vanessa. Shandi and I even got to play and sing together (she did the singing), and that was SO fun. She has a beeee-autiful voice, and I’d been looking forward to hearing it again for a while. Suffice it to say, I was sad when they left–but so glad that they came!

The rest of the day had some reading, some piano, some tantrums, lots of cleaning, and hopefully now some homework. Here are today’s pictures:

Since Mary is now on a one nap a day schedule, I can go to play group again! — Since Mary is now on a one nap a day schedule, we can go to play group again!

Vanessa, siting on the floor, is due in March. She can do stuff like sit on the floor and wear heels while pregnant. I'm jealous. — Shandi’s kids are Sebastian and Penelope. Vanessa remarked that Shandi could open a children’s boutique named “Sebastian and Penelope.” Can’t you picture it?

Abe watched the girls while I practiced tonight. From the sounds of it, they had some rough moments. But he did capture some good ones here:

Ode to Beethoven

We’re all still sick, so Lydia spent most of the day on the iPad. When Mary is sick, she does not tolerate being ignored, so I spent all of my time playing with Mary (while she was awake). When she napped, I should have switched gears and played with Lydia, but instead I practiced, did homework, and finished Beethoven’s biography.

There are so many scenes from that book I hope I never forget. Obviously, the premier of the ninth symphony is practically common knowledge, but still, reading about how Beethoven stood there furiously conducting the music in his head even after the music had finished made me choke up. Also, did you know that the Kreutzer sonata was originally dedicated to a violinist named George Bridgetower? He was a British violinist with an African father and British mother, and he was such a virtuoso on the violin that Beethoven interrupted a public performance to embrace and congratulate him. He promised the dedication of this sonata to Bridgetower, but in an after-concert celebration, Bridgetower made a crude joke about a woman, and Beethoven withdrew the dedication on the spot. Instead, he dedicated it to a violinist (last name Kreutzer), who claimed the piece was unplayable and never played it. Bridgetower regretted losing that dedication to his dying day.

Another favorite anecdote from the book comes from Beethoven’s meeting with Goethe. Beethoven had long admired Goethe, but was disgusted when Goethe made a show of bowing to royalty on one of their joint walks. Goethe was horrified at Beethoven’s lack of propriety (Beethoven angrily jammed down his hat and stormed off) and in a later letter lamented Beethoven’s poor etiquette. The incident positively warmed my heartstrings toward Beethoven and made me dislike Goethe (with whose works I am not familiar at all, anyway). In Beethoven’s words, Goethe was too moved by “things that glitter.”

Also, when Beethoven was at one of his patron’s estates, some occupying French soldiers came to dinner. Beethoven’s patron and the soldiers implored Beethoven to play for them, but Beethoven, who hated to play on demand anyway and who detested French soldiers, ended up storming out of the house, the manuscript for The Appassionata in hand, and caught a coach back to Vienna in the pouring rain. The original score has clear water stains from the trip. He told his prince patron, “There will always be plenty of princes in the world, but there is only one Beethoven.”

Anyway–wrong venue! I should be writing in Goodreads, but I am cheating because I need to get to bed and I didn’t do much else today.

I did go to class again tonight and worked again on knife skills and stock. I am going to need to practice a lot if I ever hope to be competent with a knife.

Here are some pictures I took during a rare moment this morning when Lydia was not on the iPad.

Fun company

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:

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.

Spur play date and outing reality check

We’ve all been getting sick for a while now, but I was in denial all morning because I wanted Lydia to be able to go to preschool. Our co-op has a rule that runny noses aren’t allowed, and you would think that’s pretty easy to understand except that I get hung up on the definition of “runny.” Finally, I admitted to myself that she really did have a runny nose, and we stayed home. Bummer.

Until! Until the phone rang. Aria called and suggested a play date, which was perfect since her kids both had slightly runny noses too. Great! We proceeded to have an awesome play date which culminated/ended in lunch and hot chocolate. By the time we were done, Mary was waaaaay overdue for her nap (usually at 11 am, today pushed to 1:30 pm).

After naps, I loaded the girls in the car. They have not set foot outside of the house since Sunday; we were overdue for an outing. But man, oh, man, by the time we were done with our library-grocery store run, I was just about ready for self-induced house arrest for the rest of winter. Waiting in line with two screaming children in an understaffed Sprouts was…horrible. To be fair, Lydia was great 90% of the time, but all it takes is a five minute meltdown for the whole outing to feel like a total disaster. By the time I got both girls back into the car, I was ready for a meltdown myself. Also, Mary lost her binky half way through our outing and screamed for the rest of the time. I spent about five minutes searching up and down the aisles for it before giving up and heading toward the mile long check-out lines.

To make it slightly worse, the woman behind me kept making exasperated sounds while I fumbled to get my groceries loaded onto the checkout stand. I was holding one screaming baby in one hand while the other cried and hung onto my legs, and I was mentally already throwing the b-word around when I realized that the poor woman looked like she was about to have a heart attack. She was bent over in pain and looked ashy gray in the face. I should have made sure she was okay, but she didn’t seem to enjoy the time my situation had already cost her, so I figured I’d better skip the small talk. Instead, I tried to internalized the lesson: Don’t judge on appearances. A woman who might appear to be an unfeeling, heartless b– is much more likely to be a wonderful person who might be acting out of her own personal duress. I hope I have more understanding and patience the next time I run into someone like that.

Anyway, here are today’s pictures:

I set up the princess castle tent for the play date. Espen really wanted Enna to come in with him.

He wanted to give her a hug. Precious overload.

Lydia put this hat on Espen. His great grandparents were the first LDS converts from South Africa after the missionaries were sent in the second time, so this was actually a pretty appropriate attire. Also, the girls and I spent part of the morning playing “Imagination” on that pink blanket. I’d forgotten how fun that game is! Also, Lydia handed me a pretend sea shell during dinner, thanks to our morning game.

At the library. Lydia was up to her old hoarding tricks again.

I made stuffed pumpkins again, and I kind of love taking pictures of them. They're just...cute. — I made stuffed pumpkins again, and I kind of love taking pictures of them. They’re just…cute.

picture back log

My yoga class ended around 10pm tonight, so this is a late night post. Therefore, it will be quick. I took some pictures with my iPad today and in so doing discovered a small back log that I am going to throw up here, since this is the end of my daily report.

Mary woke up before Lydia this morning, so we hung out for an hour. We took some selfies.

Mary threw her first angry tantrum today (no tears, just screams and kicks and wriggles) for an hour and a half. This is what happened afterward. We cuddled, unbeknownst to her... — Mary threw her first angry tantrum today (no tears, just screams and kicks and wriggles) for an hour and a half. This is what happened afterward. We cuddled, unbeknownst to her…

This is Mary happy, earlier in the day. Today she wanted my undivided attention at ALL times. It was fun, but the minute I tried to do anything except pay attention to Mary, the fun ended.

Then I found this one on the iPad and couldn't believe I'd forgotten to post it. Mary LOVES climbing, and she's even gotten from where she's standing in the picture to the top of the desk. We are now super careful never to leave anything out that could give her a foot lift. — Then I found this one on the iPad and couldn’t believe I’d forgotten to post it. Mary LOVES climbing, and she’s even gotten from where she’s standing in the picture to the top of the desk. We are now super careful never to leave anything out that could give her a foot lift.

I know Christmas is done, but I LOVE this picture of Lydia cuddling the snowmen. And I miss that tree.

Abe’s first day

Today was Abe’s first day at his new job! I wish I had more to report, but I haven’t seen or spoken to him much, since I went to class tonight and ever since I’ve been home he’s been running on the treadmill. We did have a quick conversation during one of my class breaks, though, and he was ecstatic about his new work environment. It seems like such a healthy, wonderful change for him.

In the meantime, I enjoyed his new schedule, because it means I now get up before the kids. It was really nice to read and shower and brush my teeth BEFORE the kids woke up. I also like getting up when it’s still dark out. There’s something cozy about that.

This morning I cleaned the whole house while Mary, who was in a don’t-put-me-down mood, cried most of the time. I fed her a couple times, and that helped a bit.

Class was also fantastic. I finally feel like it’s what I signed up to learn, and I learned so much tonight! For example, stock is not supposed to be salted. Who knew? We learned about a ton of stuff that I’d love to write down, except I hear Abe and want to hear about his new day. So, quickly:

By the time I took this photo, I'd already showered, dressed, and brushed my teeth. (This is AM.) Sadly, I was about six hours ahead of normal. — By the time I took this photo, I’d already showered, dressed, and brushed my teeth. (This is AM.) Sadly, I was about six hours ahead of normal.

While I was cleaning, the girls stopped tantruming for a couple minutes to watch Daniel Tiger together.

When Abe was watching the girls tonight, he took this picture of Mary with the potty seat around her head.

Here's another one Abe took tonight. That's supposed to be a smile... — Here’s another one Abe took tonight.

Okay, now I get to hear the full scoop on Abe’s day!!!

9 to 9 run-down.

Abe went to Tom and Suzanne’s house this morning to work on his work stuff, and in the meantime I: Started making tomorrow’s dinner, played piano with the girls, aided Lydia in her attempts to craft more postcards for her cat, read books to Lydia, and rocked Mary for approximately half an hour while both girls threw long, loud tantrums. Finally, I figured out Mary needed breakfast #2, and after that she went to sleep.

Then Lydia and I Skyped with Clark and Swathi until Abe came home. As soon as he came home, I hightailed it to the piano and remained there until Mary woke up from her nap. I think after that we ate again, read more books, and then I took a nap.

After that, we went to the library to pick out more books and read down some more fines. Then we stopped at Payless to buy my chef shoes (this semester is my first one with a lab class, so I didn’t need them until now). It seems like a lot of food industry people must shop at Payless because they had a TON of non-slip, food-industry friendly options all in the same place.

Then it was gas, groceries, home, dinner, clean the kitchen, read to the girls, and bedtime.

I should mention that Lydia, who had been anticipating our outing all day long, fell asleep the minute we got into the car and didn’t wake up until we returned home hours later. Even after we brought her inside, she sat on the couch in an unblinking stupor for (Abe and I timed it, sort of) 20 minutes.

We thought it was funny.

Since I finished The Hobbit, I feel like maybe I can read again. But even though I checked out three fabulous options (Gladwell’s David and Goliath, a Beethoven biography, and The Fellowship of the Ring), I feel pulled to this month’s issue of Martha Stewart Living. The iPad edition has links to six different heirloom seed catalogs for vegetables alone. There are also links to flowers and other plants, but it’s the veggie links that truly pull on my heartstrings. Does this link not make you want to plant tomatoes, or does it not make you want to plant tomatoes? Tomorrow I am going to ask the bishop if I can get a plot in the church field a couple blocks from our house. Hopefully they’re not already all taken!

I should also mention that Tom did a magnificent job fixing Abe’s laptop today, and Abe has been over the moon with excitement and anticipation all day. My nightly blogging habit on his desk computer has made him miss a working laptop, and now he has one again. Hooray!

Nearing the end of Bliss

Having Abe home for the past three weeks has been glorious. To be perfectly frank, I am terrified about what next week will bring. It would all be easier if I weren’t in cooking school, but I just have to remember that Abe and I both feel extremely good about that decision. I keep going back to those assurances, because starting Monday Abe starts his new job and we will not see each other much for the next four months. I have class three nights a week, and the other two nights Abe will work late. Pity party at my house!

Aside from feeling terrified that our blissful vacation is drawing to an end, today was pretty good. Abe, who is turning 30 this month, even went outside to work on the snow fort…by himself. Lydia refused to go because she didn’t want to get cold, and Mary was napping. Here’s the fruit of his hard work:

He still says it has a long way to go. When he will find time for the going, I don’t know. But doesn’t it look great? Can you imagine the size this would be if we had the weather currently affecting the Midwest?

I got some fun time in with my children, some cooking, some piano, and now I’m about to don headphones while Abe and I snuggle up to watch our separate movies. He’s going to watch training videos for work while I watch youtube piano videos. Super romantic, I know.

Here are today’s pictures:

Okay, Lydia and I did a lot of stuff together today, but she ALSO did a lot of this. Daniel Tiger is her friend. — Okay, Lydia and I played the piano together, read a ton of books, stamped and crafted postcards for her cat, talked on the phone to my mom and Grandma, and yet…there were still somehow many hours left in the day to kill. These no-nap days are craaazy!! Needless to say, she spent a couple hours with Daniel the tiger, too.

My house is a mess. Instead of cleaning it, I took a picture and ran to the piano to get more practice in before 9 pm hit.

Since I had all the ingredients on hand, dinner tonight was free. I just braised some cabbage and onion and layered that with some leftover spelt bread (frozen since Christmas) and some cheese I bought a week ago. I drenched it in broth and baked for 30 min. Loosely based on a recipe I read a couple days ago, and I think it was yummy. — Since I had all the ingredients on hand, dinner tonight was free. (And by that I mean it didn’t come out of this week’s budget. Ain’t no free lunch in real life.) I just braised some cabbage and onion and layered that with some leftover spelt bread (frozen since Christmas) and some cheese I bought a week ago. I drenched it in broth and baked for 30 min. Loosely based on a recipe I read a couple days ago, and I think it was yummy.

Mary in her high chair. These times of day make us all so, so fussy.

Since Mary had trouble getting to sleep last night, we fed her second dinner to her a little later today. She is a fan of ramen...and, we found out today, milk! She drank a TON of milk tonight. I've only been giving the girls water because I don't like milk, but I guess it turns out their preferences differ from mine. — Since Mary had trouble getting to sleep last night, we fed her second dinner to her a little later today. She is a fan of ramen…and, we found out today, milk! She drank a TON of milk tonight. I’ve only been giving the girls water because I don’t like milk, but I guess it turns out their preferences differ from mine.

cozy

After Bikram this morning, I came home to discover this:

Abe and Lydia had spent over an hour building this together.

Lydia packed the snow by kneeling on it.

Abe told me that he’s done with snowmen for the season.

These are leftover from the last snow. The one on the right used to be 10 feet tall. Lydia named (all by herself) the one on the left "Snowhopper." My mom named the one on the right "Mr. Snowshine." Their time has since passed. — These are leftover remnants of snowmen from the last snow. The one on the right used to be 10 feet tall. Lydia named (all by herself) the one on the left “Snowhopper.” My mom named the one on the right “Mr. Snowshine.” Their time has since passed.

After I came home, Abe went to lunch with his friends, Morgan, Kendall, and Kade. After that he went to his dad’s house to work on his homework for his new job, and so I had the girls to myself. We played, ate, and napped.

During their naps, I read some more of The Hobbit. That book is meant to be read on a day like today:

While I was reading, fat snowflakes were falling outside of my window and I felt so cozy and warm inside. It felt so wonderful to be reading about such adventures while I was snug under my blankets during an actual snowstorm. I also really like the parts of the book where the travelers get hungry–and then really enjoy getting fed. That cycle seems to happen every couple pages, and it never grows old (on me).

In fact, I was so taken with the coziness of the whole situation that I went downstairs and made soup. Then Abe came home and I spent the rest of the evening practicing. Last night I had nightmares that I had memory slips on La Campanella, and I woke up panicky and spent the next thirty minutes trying to see the score in my head. It was nice to address the shaky parts in real life.

Also, I am really nervous about my competition audition tapes. I did not realize they were an actual audition until Abe read the fine print before packing them up to mail. When I made the recordings, I just thought that the judges wanted to see how you played, and it didn’t really matter what you sent in. Those recordings a) weren’t memorized, b) were chock full of technical errors, c) seriously lacked in musicality, in part because of a. But I guess that the good news is, if I don’t make it into this competition, there are tons of other ones around the country, and I can make other recordings–hopefully, ones that I actually like. In the meantime, though, I’m biting my nails and hoping I make it into the competition.

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