And then there was BRUNCH

It turns out that when one hypothetically updates her blog every few weeks, one probably has a blog post all planned out in her head that seems to become stale and old news given the rapid acceleration of time between the hours of 6 AM and 10 PM every single day.  And then, hypothetically, one might write the same blog post twice because it's been a minute and one didn't realize that one already reported on other things.  I think it was funnier this time.  But I deleted it and started over.  Your loss, I know.

 

Other things are happening around here, though.

 

Por ejemplo.  It turns out we like bathing with hot water as the very best option.  Our water heater went fizzle-fizzle-fizzle-tepid, and because this joint came with a home warranty for the first year, we thought we’d go that route and save mucho dinero.  However.  Saving mucho dinero comes at the price of mucho day-o-s without hot water. 

 

(I do know that “dias” is “days” en Espanol, but I’m practicing a differentiated instructional strategy here that allows me to not ostracize my many readers…probably none of my readers…who took Latin or French or Mandarin in high school and aren’t entirely aware of how mucho the dias actually were.  Muchas gracias, Senora Bloemker, my German-born Spanish teacher who also had perfect English just to show off a bit.)

 

(We’re entering the last few weeks of the school year when I’m caught between “Oy vey, what is another fresh, new motivating tool?” and “Oy vey, do I really have to reflect on my teaching habits and effectiveness for the past year?  I wasn’t the best and wasn’t the worst; I’m probably just gonna slide in there somewhere anyways.”  Hence…differentiated instructional strategies.  Define the term and report back tomorrow with ideas for how I can do this while effectively teaching writing, of all things, more effectively.  Refer to the first “Oy vey…” for reference on the general state of mind right now.)

 

(This is a lengthy aside.  I shall move on.)

 

So the water heater.  It’s sparkly new…as much as that ever occurs with something as BLAH looking as a water heater.  Some things (FOOD), I’m pretty much always OK with spending money on.  Some things are worth it.  If I’m going to lose some dollars, at least let’s revel in the consequence of that decision to spend.  Some things just make me and others around me happy.  Some things (WATER HEATERS) are a drag on my resources and need to just work and stay back in the shadows where I don’t have to think about them anymore.

 

It feels good to check a box for “things it would be nice to use before it expires – home warranty."  It makes the To Do list look more productive at least.  But the house also needs to stop being so “Marsha, Marsha, Marsha…!”

And, we finished reading all of the Harry Potter books with the kids (you can edit some language when you read it out loud if you're as quick on your reading toes as I am).  Here's approximately how the last month has gone with the Elder:  "I HATE this because I love it SO MUCH...please keep reading!!!"  So where do we go next?  Back to fairy books and Judy Moody?  Probably.  Those are always good for a quick read before bedtime.  Granted, we talk about allusion, imagery, characterization, themes, and symbolism a bunch less when we read the fluffy stuff.  But it's like eating pudding for desert: It's probably never your first choice but a solid choice nonetheless when you can't always have that gorgeous slice of triple chocolate crunch cake from the cute bakery down the street that costs $7 a slice.  (I've never had such cake and have no cute bakery down the street.  At $7 a slice, my wallet and running regimen are glad.)

Also (speaking of running regimen), the boy and I ran our first 5K this past weekend.  We maybe signed up for it specifically because they promised seriously soft t-shirts and brunch post-race.  BRUNCH.  There is almost no better reason to run.  It was perfectly pleasant and enjoyable.  The boy probably wasn't expecting me to reply "I thought we already had" when he asked "Are you ready to speed up?" at the 2-mile marker as we pre-arranged.  And to be clear, he was totally trying to beat me at the end.  He did.  By 1 second.  Questionable move, spouse...

But then again...BRUNCH.

April is a foolish month

So Spring Break happened, and it wasn't such a bad time.  Coming back to my students this week, I heard about my students traveling to Maryland, FloridaFloridaFlorida, Jamaica, and Hawaii (just to name a few).  Of course.  This is the land in which I live now. 

We traveled too, actually.  To a shady little burg on the side of a sand dune that had a perpetual stinkish smell in the air but the distinction of being directly across the street from a train station.  We've been planning this kind of an adventure for a couple of years now, taking a couple of days to take our girls on a train and explore a new space - a favorite of ours.  We had the disadvantage of going when the wind was icy, else the dunes would have been a major draw for us.  But to be fair, the entire northern half of the United States has been similarly stuck in this perpetual winter that is seeping into our souls when we're ever so ready to break out of four walls for even a few lungfuls and a handful of sunshine.

Instead, we had significant snowfall three times in those two weeks. 

But when your intentions are reasonable, then a little snow isn't going to ruin much.  And it didn't, though it was a fair amount of nippy waiting outside the aquarium for the 20 minutes before the doors opened.  But before the aquarium was the train and before the train was the condo (which sounds grandish but was simply adequately comfortable...which means it came complete with WIFI and enough space to spread out more than a hotel room).  Our girls do love a good night away - exploring closets, figuring out who gets to sleep where, and finding out if anything was left from a previous resident in the refrigerator.  And the train ride was perfect - long enough to give them a good sense of what it's like riding on a train and short enough that no one got carsick or too overtly bored. 

And then the aquarium was delightful with awe inspiring animals like beluga whales and lunch eaten looking into the dolphins' tank.  Granted, it ended with a bit of a meltdown, but we knew that was coming and life moved on with nothing more than a small bump in the day.  The weather was vile, though, so spending any time outside before catching a return train wasn't really viable and the others in my party weren't as interested in more exploring as I was.  (Another trip in the making!  Coming back for more good times!)

Here's what I do know: We were staring down a prime opportunity to continue the cultural experience with our children.  Oh yes, good people, this meant 1 enormous DEEP DISH PIZZA.  I had it planned.  One pizza...one train trip home...supper ready after a long day...all would be well with our collective souls. 

Andwegotdonutstoobecausewhynot?

In other words, we were the oddest group of people on that commuter train.

And in other words, hallelujah that we did.  BECAUSE...we got on the wrong train.  And that train was an express train.  And that express train didn't stop at our station.  And I watched us zipping along right by where we desperately wanted to get off.  Lesson learned:  Don't trust the train that comes five minutes early as being the train that you want even if the boy says "Yep, this must be the one and it just came early."  So we accidentally got off at another, more comfortable, warmly enclosed station about 7 miles up the road.  And then, continuing the theme of the day, we taught our daughters about one more, crucial, cultural practice: how to request a ride using Lyft.

Bless the boy.  His first thought was "I'll just run 7 miles back to our car along this busy road in my jeans.  The rest will be all right because they have pizza, a bathroom, and books."  But then he wised up to the way of a world that has this thing called "better technology than just your two legs."

But the girls were fairly well thrilled with our short trip, we reveled in the Easter weekend, and then the boy and the girls packed up again for a couple of nights spent with his sister and her family.  The highlights of this trip included fun cousins, an annual trip to an enormous grocery store with a father who goes a bit crazy when faced with so many options in cheese, chocolate and coffee, and one of our favorite ice cream trips. 

This has become an annual trip since I always have classes that don't perfectly coincide with everyone's Spring Break, so I get some extended time by myself while still bringing home a few bucks and the boy gets to see his favorite sister with some daddy-daughter time. 

So they left and I bought a couch.  I didn't mean to, but it was right there all cheaper than expected with that free-in-store-pick-up gleam in its eye.  And I seem to be firmly of the belief that there isn't anything that I want to buy that won't fit in my car. 

It turns out that a couch doesn't really fit in the car.

But, where there's a determined woman who didn't tell her spouse that she was buying a flipping couch and the threat of having to rent a truck and then backtrack and explain things later, then there's a way to secure it given enough "twine" borrowed from the store that looked, smelled, and tasted strongly of string. 

100 feet of string later...she got 'er home. And in the house.  And assembled.  ALL.  BY.  HERSELF.

Then the water heater decided he was going to stop doing this thing called "make hot water," which means that we are TWO for TWO houses where we've had to replace a water heater within months of moving in.  I suspect there's something going on here among the house fairies. 

But we also enjoyed a few days full of sleeping in until 7, good friends, PJ pants and leggings with hot mugs of coffee and tea willy nilly throughout the day, which is essentially just my ideal kind of situation.

It was a blessing of a mental break, and now we're in for Lent part II: 40 days until the end of the semester...40 days of whiny behavior...40 days of fools and sillies.  There will undoubtedly be a time or two in these next few weeks when another deep dish from Lou Malnati's would be much appreciated.