milkshakes and grumps

friday night we met my sister amy and her husband for a milkshake date night at the airline.

we got there 20 minutes before close which led to our pick of any booth and terrible service from the high school girls working.

(and that always leads to me trying to break the tension or apathy by making some terrible joke or comment on the weather which results in more grump out of the waitress. be forewarned: high school gals do not care about your milkshake jokes or the weather)

anyways, it was a real fine time! ice cream and tension with a side of good conversation.

 i thew caution (and my growing double chin) to the wind and renewed my love for peanut butter milkshakes...and got some sister time out of the deal. 

happy monday, dears! 

and happy last day of february. i found a real gem of an umbrella this weekend...just in time for rainy rainy march.

sunday afternoons

 today i left my coat behind...forgot about the scarf. sat out on the front porch with my matt and talked hypotheticals and tiramusu.

 today i relish in the clean laundry, and pay no attention to the clutter everywhere else. the house is still. the windows are open.

and i wait, with all the anxiousness in the world, on little max to make his way back to me with a weekend's worth of stories of a boy and his dad.

there is something oh so good about a sunday afternoon kind of pace.

sigh no more

sunny snow-day fridays are for sheet washing and bed jumping on dresses...mumford & sons and the charleston.

we're on the mend around here and ready to seize the weekend.

happy friday to you, friends!

lemons

when life gives you a few more weeks of icy rain and cold, buy some seeds and start planning your summer garden.

and wear nothing but yellow and pink and red and green until it lets up.

(i also have an emergency stash of potting soil to put my hands in...if you're into that sort of thing)

a picture and a song

God's been tug tug tugging on my heart these days.

things are being moved about on the inside, slow but sure. 

and it sat me down right in my place yesterday.

so here i sit. me and my tug.

having no idea why it's here but being thankful that i stood still enough to see it slip in.

and sometimes that's all we can do is sit and listen...

Muzicons.comwinter's come and gone- Gillian Welch

sniffles and spring fever

our president's day has been covered in rain and scattered with cold.

the perfect day for warm morning baths and hair washing.

we stayed in all weekend trying to mend our sick bodies, which is a dangerous thing for me this time of year. i rearranged and scooted and dusted and plotted all weekend. nowhere in the house was safe.

when i catch spring fever, i catch it terribly. 

(and it always leads to me either cutting short bangs or doing a large and involved project around the house)

 today it's a house project in our hallway. 

(tomorrow might be the bangs)

i've had my eye on this birch wallpaper from cole and son to put in the hallway for some time now. but at $200 a roll, even for our tiny space, i couldn't bring myself to do it.

yesterday i got the gumption to just paint it on ourselves...and i roped matt in on sketching duty.

even just a few trees in, we're completely in love. 

despite the hours it's taking to finish them in the stippled/ink look from the wallpaper.

 i cleaned out my office too for the occasion! 

more pictures when i get everything hung up and presentable.

i'm going to take advantage of the poor weather today to finish the hallway.

fingers crossed!

i've already had to take too many breaks to wipe max's nose. haha. oh well.

 

happy president's day, loves!

if anyone is hunting for something festive to do, here's a link to heidi's presidential figurines.

so funny and perfect.

slowing down

and just like that....

we're all sick and fevered and stuffy nosed. that quickly!

it looks like i shaved my legs for nothing.

being stuck inside on a sunny day makes a girl do odd things...like take pictures of kleenex boxes and get invested in the bonanza marathon on tv.

however odd, i'm taking solace in small comforts today i guess.

(and a actual box of tissues as opposed to a roll of toilet paper is a true luxury around here)

it's the little things today...like the way an open window breeze does something to the soul but wreaks havoc on a cold.

 how max is such a brave boy and doesn't even scrunch up his nose while taking his herbs.

(i wish i could say the same for myself)

the way the sun manages to make everything seem just that much better.

and really being sick on a beautiful day isn't so terrible. 

you're forced to slow down and fully appreciate the small bits. and you're completely present when the sun sneaks in and sits with you for a while...rooting you on. 

happy weekend, friends!

go out and do something wonderful for me!

max and i have a dreamsicle and bed calling our names...

shedding layers

 everything feels and smells new around here. 

the snow has melted away and the birds are out in full force. layers are being shed, in more ways than one.

that's my favorite thing about having seasons...change is tangible. you feel it in your bones first then smell it coming in through your just-opened window.

 warm and sunny weather makes it mandatory to break from desk work and errands, even if just for a half hour, and go find a warm spot to sit in outside and be to yourself. 

i added a a trip to the used book store to find a saucy book and some tea to mine.

it's supposed to reach above 60 today!

i'm beside myself...and may even get out our bikes and shave my legs for the occasion!

(p.s. thank you all for your kind and funny comments on max's sailor mouth. i suppose uttering your first obscenities is a right of passage of some sort. i used to whisper mine under my breath to try them on for size when i was his age. haha.)

kids say the darndest things: expletive edition

i picked max up from school yesterday and noticed a little tension between him, his teacher, and his classmates. they had trauma in their eyes. my first assumption was that someone had either had a bathroom accident on the reading rug or an upset stomach at the pencil sharpener. either way, these people had seen something.

 

 max walked up to me with his head hung and told me he had gotten "grounded" at school. 2 minutes on the wall at recess (or roughly 6 months in the state pen to a 6 year old).

now, max can be the orneriest of boys but he is also sneaky...and prides himself on rarely to never getting caught with his hands dirty. i couldn't imagine what he had done to get "grounded".

 

"i said sh#t." he told me.

just like that. so matter of fact.

"ship. sh#t. they rhyme." he says...

words can't describe the shock a mama gets when such a sharp word hits those tiny little lips. i'm not much for swearing, myself. it's not my style. but i had no idea max even knew about this word! he's tried on "damn" a time or two when he was younger and heard it on teenage mutant ninja turtles, and that was shocking enough. especially when he used it correctly in a sentence. but this! this was beyond me...

 

we had a talk in the car and max told me he learned it from his daddy this weekend. max decided to use this new word as collateral with his friends to get their approval and extra computer time.

 i called max's dad (jesse) to let him know what happened. he said things unraveled a little like this...

 

max: "daddy, i know a bad word...it starts with a ssshhhhhh"

(and they both chime in simultaneously)

jesse: " sh#t!?"

max: "shut up"

 

jesse: "wait...you meant shut up?"

max: "what does sh#t mean?"

jesse: palm to head

jesse tried to clear up the mistake by explaining to max that it was an adult word, and not a very nice one. they had a "never use it or you'll get in trouble" kind of conversation. and jesse thought he was safe.

but now max was burdened with a secret. adults have words that little ones aren't allowed say, let alone know about. he had to get this conspiracy out.

and he unloaded on the innocent ears of his kindergarten class. 

max is "grounded" for 2 more minutes during recess today. he told me last night he wanted to look into going to a different kindergarten for the rest of the year. i told him to go in with his head high, take your punishment, count to 120, and move on with your life. be a better man!

reformation is already taking place. but you can see this hard-knock life experience in his sad little eyes. and really i don't know how any of us can come back after "sh#t".

bloomington....or...the hunt for john cougar mellencamp

an hour before matt and i were supposed to leave for our weekend away, we still had no clue where we were going. desperation, and no clear direction, led us to strips of paper and a feathered fedora. little towns in west virginia and pennsylvania and indiana and michigan were all tossed in together, out popped bloomington (the home of indiana university and john mellancamp), and we were on the road.
(that hat has yet to do me wrong, except for when i try to wear it)

we set out, the two of us, with no technology...only paper maps and local radio.
20 minutes into the drive the radio was off and i was soaking up matt's tales of selling men's perfume and time shares in his early 20's. i think that's what i love most about road trips; being trapped in the car with someone brings out the chance for real conversation and juicy past-life gossip.
that, and traveling through indiana will lead you to funny gentlemen bookstores in trailers and truck stop omelet/indian food restaurants.

 bloomington was great. 

the weather was flirting with spring, so we walked and walked and walked. we ate interesting foods and sifted through some pretty amazing vintage stores (one had a working 1920's peep show booth for a quarter and taxidermy animals lining the tops of bookshelves). we made each other paper napkin valentines over coffee, spent $30 at the candy store with little remorse, took in the local art, jaywalked, and slow danced on the sidewalk to elevator music. there's something really wonderful about the anonymity that a new town gives you...and bloomington was the perfect hideout.

this trip was a risky venture for the planning kind of girl that i am. but it truly paid off.

it's an easy and laid back weekend when you fly by the wind. and really that's just what i needed. even if we were only a couple hours from home.

but in all honesty, i would travel to the backyard with this guy if it meant that i got spend the day with him.

love and donuts

my valentines took me out for donuts at jim's before max had to be off to school this afternoon.

jim's is a funny little retro place...and the donut maker is like something out of a book. 

(appearing every once in a blue moon from the back room...bewildered and covered in flour and wearing an eye patch)

a gaggle of older gentlemen regulars were sipping coffee at the rounded bar today...looking like knights of the round table discussing casino slots and the wind chill.

i felt a little bad disrupting them with our shameless picture-taking and giggling and valentine swooning.

 i think i could take a little love and donuts every afternoon.

these two guys are lemon-filled and covered in sprinkles to me.