Fall To Do List 2013

Fall to do:

Just uploading this Mid October, so that's...fine. 

Good news is, I've already completed a lot on the list! Yay!

Make home made soups.

(Have done this twice so far! One was a strange goat cheese and broccoli invention, and the other was a more traditional mushroom and barley from (crazy) a cookbook. Wild stuff.)

Make a whole chicken in the crock pot. 

(Done! But there was so much meat it didn't alllll get used. So not Pocahontas of me.)

Care package for Anna.

(Going out any day now- Eliza keeps growing out of more stuff so the package isn't complete.) 

Scotch and Scrabble party.

(Done! Sort of. We drank a lot of scotch down the beach for my birthday and forgot to play Scrabble. Ha)

Exercise Class or a Run once a week.

(Mostly! Hot yoga is becoming a fave. As is rolling out my sore IT band from running.)

Get a pumpkin.

(Check! Also can check off the list- forget pumpkin is old and let it rot on front stoop for a while.)

Garlands.

(Made, hung, boom, roasted.)

Paint a canvas.

(Not yet!)

Fix up the laundry room/entry.

(Yes!!! Could be more fixed, but hey. It's a start.)

Buy and read cranberry farms and make way for ducklings.

(Library, boo ya.)

Library card.

(first one I checked off the list.)

Not so bad, fall 2013!

Eliza, Month 2

Already falling so behind!

Eliza at 2 months loves to smile, sleeps at least 8 hours a night,

and is, in general, the easiest little dream baby.

She's getting super plump and happy, and we call her a little chicken,

or, 

when her upper lip just out, just so, a little turkey. 

She's still such a marshmallow baby- so soft and sweet and happy!

What we do with our day: We wake up and eat and sleep and eat and sleep. 

Then in the afternoon, we go on a walk to the park with Aunt Dana, Addison, Aiden and Kayla,

or we walk around downtown. 

We love the little Tibetan man, the green bunny Aunt Saritha gave us,

and especially Jacques, the monkey mama and daddy made on one of their first dates. 

Eliza, you are a dream. 

the air

last night, 

falling into bed exhausted,

the air was full of laughter.

like when I was a little girl at sleepovers-

when everyone agrees its time to go to bed

or someone's mother comes downstairs and decides its time to go to bed-

but thirty seconds later someone giggles,

and then in the sleeping bag next to her 

it's impossible to close your eyes,

because the air is just so full of laughter.

that's how the air was,

last night,

at 23-almost-24

crawling into bed with my love,

after wiping spit up away

and rocking to sleep

and kissing goodnight

the tiny human who has taken up all our cumulative energies.

it took us so long to calm down

and settle in

and sleep.

but it was so nice,

to breathe in that air,

after crawling in bed,

and being unable to hold in all of that laughter,

to let it out together. 

Eliza, Month 1

We love her. 

So sweet, so determined, so strong. 

Summer To Do List Update

1. Have a baby.

Eliza Kristi, born July 4th

[God bless America!]

2. Family walks to go get ice cream. 

twice or three times already!

3. Go to the park, pack a picnic.

4. Make new friends in the new town. Making friends in adult life is...not like college.

To be honest, I'm kind of hoping for a magical "in" somewhere. 

Not doing so well on this one. 

5. Attend at least 1 true barbecue. (Grill, burgers, beers.) A beer-b-q?

Why is no one I know having one of these?

6. Keep my brain "on" by posting a few times a week. 

Well, a month and a week after baby girl was born, I'm making an appearance. So that's something. 

7. Achieve my goal of a frame wall. And plate wall.

I just wrote those down on a to do list, so I feel like I'm really moving forward. Ha.  

8. Read some new novels. First on the list is Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie. So good so far.

Still reading! Also intermittently reading books about babies! 

9. Go somewhere with live music. Baby optional.

There is a du-wop concert in the park next Thursday- maybe I'll magically make new friends there and kill two birds with one stone?!?!

10. Continue my love affair with the farmer's market.

No brainer. 

11. Read Scripture to baby girl. 

Almost everyday! So far so good.

So basically, I need to get over my fear of driving by myself with the baby in the car.

That would make several of these items more plausible.

Not sure when my terror  checking every minute to see if she's breathing anxiety will subside, but lets hope for sooner rather than later, I guess. 

six out of eleven done by august tenth! not bad, mrs.ralph.

what I don't understand

1. all i do is drink water and my lips are SO CHAPPED.

2. where all my bobby pins go. seriously, how is it possible that they are all gone?

3. how my sink fills with dishes SO FAST. it's amazing. i have a dirty dishes generating sink. 

baffling aspects of the universe.

who is?

You are present

You are certainly present. 

You are effective,

influencing,

you make a difference.

You are a person,

flaw and skill

and muscle and bone.

But are you trustworthy?

You were there,

and so was I.

I remember,

at least I think I do.

Do you remember?

Even if you do.

Are you trustworthy?

hurried vs. productive

I have decided.

Hurried and Productive

do not mean the same thing.

[And should not look the same.]

once again

Last night, reading in Midnight's Children, a passage caught my heart. It starts out talking about how when one of the characters was growing up, he shared a room with a painter. This painter started out specializing in miniatures, but his paintings grew as he tried to fit "the whole of life into his art."

Remembering the artist and past roommate, this character notices how life refuses to remain in miniature. Refuses to be painted even life sized. The complexities of life and the connections each event, each person, each idea make with each other make it impossible to describe life without constantly expanding the medium. 

Frustrating and beautiful and maybe encouraging? Maybe hopeful?

Frustrating for obvious reasons, as a person who attempts to describe their world, or to master it with creativity.

But maybe beautiful and encouraging because all of that complexity and connection points to something deeper and bigger and fuller than life itself. As we attempt to describe life, we add to it, we create another layer, we add another facet. That tapestry, while not managed by human hands, is woven by an artist, a creator. There is hope in the idea that the dizzying variety and complexity and utter unlifesizedness of life points to one whose life sustains it all. 

here's hoping!

1. Have a baby. (Soon, please!)

2. Family walks to go get ice cream. We can literally walk. (How much do I love this new place!!??)

3. Go to the park, pack a picnic.

4. Make new friends in the new town. Making friends in adult life is...not like college.

5. Attend at least 1 true barbecue. (Grill, burgers, beers.) A beer-b-q?

6. Keep my brain "on" by posting a few times a week. But no legalism on this one, eh?

7. Achieve my goal of a frame wall. And plate wall. Home depot, you are my friend. 

8. Read some new novels. First on the list is Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie. So good so far.

9. Go somewhere with live music. Baby optional.

10. Continue my love affair with the farmer's market. Not tough.

11. Read Scripture to baby girl. I wonder if she'll remember it from her days in the womb. Maybe she'll be instantly calmed by my reading to the Bible to her. One can hope. It would be a great thing to tell future babysitters- really freak them out. And a good thing to remind her of when she's a teenager. 

catch for us the foxes

layers.

Adulthood: 

Childhood, with additional layers.

Sometimes, identical ones.

my fave.

at 8.5 months pregnant,

this has never been MORE helpful to me. 

insta-life