Mamazen

Dear Oregon

Dear Oregon, I love you. I really do. You're beautiful, green, lush, and mostly politically progressive, you foster foodies and small farmers and all the things I love. But can you stop with the June-uary? Climate change is hitting you hard my sweet oregon, because having to turn on the heater on June 16th? It's crazy talk I tell you.
If it were just me, I wouldn't mind as much. I'd curl up on the couch with a good book or my knitting and pour a hot cuppa. But my girl...she's gonna be 4 in a few days and this cold dreary weather after the brillant summer weekend we has a peek of last week has given her a cold. We've got a trip to your glorious shores planned to celebrate her brilliance this weeend, so...give us a break, mmmkay?
All my love, mamazen

Mid month blues

It's the 15th of the month. I'm not surprised that my desire to blog daily is in the crapper. The weather is also in the crapper, but since everyone else in the PNW is complaining about it, I'm trying not to. We had a sunny weekend and then today it returned to 55 and raining. IT'S JUNE FIFTEENTH FOR EFFS SAKE!!!

So in an effort to not complain about the weather, or the fact that I had to wear a wool sweater today, and turn on my heater to take the chill off of the house, I will blog about... well... I got nothin. 

What do you want to know? give me a reason to write!

Has business to attend to... right now.

So you get a short and sweet blog post. 

Went to the zoo with friends who were gracious, open and accepting. Had a great time. Twas a good day.  

A perfect Sunday

Sunshine, perfect temperature, a slight (well not always slight) breeze, and a very busy, but productive and fun day. 

Our neighborhood farmers market opened this weekend and my best friend Celeste had a booth there. I helped with some set up and then watched the boys for part of the day so that she and Laurie could man the booth together. Then after we took the booth down we did some shopping and came home to make dinner. 

A lovely meal of spring asparagus hash eaten on the back deck in the waning sun followed by a hot shower and a quick and sweet bedtime with my favorite girl was the perfect way to end a great day and a great way to start a new week!

Saturday

Today I...

spent 3 hours in the sun moving mulch and pulling weeds at Ruby's preschool with a bunch of other parents, and WOW does the new play yard look awesome.

baked a cake that looked horrible but tasted delicious, or so I was told. 

watched Ruby cross a slack line (with help) for the first time, and realize that we really need a balance beam in our back yard. 

enjoyed fantastic food and the company of people who love her daughter.

got sunburned. 

Thank god summer decided to pay our little corner of the world a visit!

Mamazen: saving the world from assholes, 20 minutes at a time

This was the compliment I was given today regarding last week's post about being in the NOW. My friend Heather said she thought about it while out running errands with her (almost) 4 year old and it allowed her to let her daughter set the pace. Heather said to me "so thanks for helping me not be quite as big an asshole for about 20 minutes." I think see a new blog header in my future. 

Two

Today I had two moment that were very "NOW" moments. 

1. Ruby and I went to our favorite soaking pool in the pouring rain. Nothing like soaking in hot water while cool rain falls on your face.

2. I took Ruby and her Faux Bro Max to OMSI and paid homage to all the mothers of more than one child. Holy cow it was much more work to follow an almost 2 year old runner (who loves to run for the exit as soon as you turn your back) and a 4 year old kid on the spectrum who was overwhelmed by the noise, people  and so much to do. We stayed for 40 minutes, that's 30 minutes longer than I'd expected. And truthfully, it was fun. Crazy and hectic, but fun. Had there been 1/4 of the people there we probably would have stayed longer. We had no meltdowns and both kids left happily when I told them it was time to go. I'd call that a win. 

Now, where did I set my wine?

what i'd like right now

A margarita

10 hours of sleep

A long sunny day

Less eczema on my arms

Another margarita. 

Tuesday is my Monday

Tuesday is the start of my (admittedly, gloriously, happily short) work week. I work Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, with occasional additions for desperate patients. All of this will change this summer when Ruby starts a second preschool, with special ed teachers and will be in class 4 mornings a week.  However for a few more weeks we have lazy Tuesday mornings for walks in the cool air and coffee on the back porch.  

Today was no such Tuesday. Ruby woke up at 3 am and didn't fall back to sleep till 5:45 and it was only a restless 75 minutes before she was up and jumping on the bed. Needless to say, we're both tired and crabby today. We did head out for a short walk, and although it helped wake me up a little, it really didn't improve morale. Now I've got to keep her occupied while I clean house, and get ready for my busy work day. 

Hopefully last nights awful sleep is an anomaly, and not the return of sleep hell. 

It's Tuesday, but I have a bad case of the Mondays. 

Best picture I took all day

Monday can either be awesome, or kick my butt. Today was both. I woke up tired (although I got a good amount of sleep - no I won't tell you what that is because it's pathetic that I think it's good) and spent the morning tired and crabby even after 2 cups of coffee. I felt like I had a cold medicine hang over, yet no drugs were consumed. I attempted an early sunny morning walk, that ended in meltdown and me dragging Ruby home (for more coffee, me not her). She then watched PBS while I stared out the window trying to motivate myself to get dressed and pack up for some fun. 

I finally got us out to the zoo and, as I've mentioned before if I let her set the pace and follow her lead... we had a great time. Don't get me wrong. There were melt downs, including one where she tried to pull my hair out and scratch my face, but over all, it was a great time. Three plus hours of sunshine, animals and silliness, and I was done. Leaving is never easy, but with talk of a popsicle and water play when we got home, we were finally at the car. 

Once home I retrieved said popsicle (raw yogurt, blueberries, strawberries and a splash of honey) and filled up a tub with water and some dish soap... and the afternoon was complete. 

 

Honestly, I can't love this person any more than I do right this second.