Some Things I Like To Do

Cry: Oh, I just remembered this book I loved so much when I was a kid, and I spent about twenty minutes trying to find it online based on these search criteria: "Dog in kennel while family goes on vacation. Family dies in car crash. Possibly a Dell Yearling book. SO SAD." And I found it: The Visitor, by Gene Smith. Just look at that description, "When his master dies, Sassafras, an Irish setter, becomes a permanent resident of a kennel." BOO HOO HOO. I think I must've first read this book when I was around nine years old, and it became my go-to book when I wanted to bawl. It's funny to abruptly remember this, and to realize that one of my favorite activities, sitting in a movie theater--or in the privacy of my home with a book in my hands--with tears and snot pouring down my face, has always been one of my favorite activities.

Yell: Here's a good way to test out a possible name for your future child/ren: Holler it out loud, like you're calling the child in for dinner from your fictional back yard. I have done this to amusing effect with both sexually transmitted diseases ("Chlamydia! Come inside this instant, young lady!") and fonts ("Garamond! Helvetica! Dinner time!"). Just a suggestion. And note, I successfully named my own children Isaac and Zoë.

Walk/Listen: We have a houseguest these couple of weeks, cousin-auntie Lulu the hound dog. She has been a perfect guest, aside from one or two mornings when she decided she was ready for a walk at five AM. I've enjoyed taking her for a long stroll mid-morning every day. She sniffs all the smells and pees like a boy while I listen to a podcast. May I recommend Judge John Hodgman, in addition to my various NPR and pop culture favorites? It's adorable when a loud truck drives past and she bark-howls at it. She's so little, when you're used to a big old Gusdog.

Muse: I'm going to try to write in this lil' blog more often, because I'm feeling mute. I think it's the weather, which I've solemnly sworn (to myself) not to mention. I can sum it up, and my feelings about it, by mentioning at this point my suspicion that we may skip spring and summer this year and go right to fall. In which case I am moving to the desert.

Watch: Please go see The Grand Budapest Hotel. I loved it so much. And maybe you'll enjoy the web series High Maintenance as much as I do. And perhaps you'll grow to love The Bridge, as I have despite my initial reluctance (I wanted to watch the original, set on the border between Denmark and Sweden, which Mark thought sounded much less interesting than the American version, set on the border between El Paso and Juarez. "Why don't you want to watch it?" he asked, and I was all, "I don't know. Just, Mexico."). But it's pretty great, if dark and with the chopping of bodies and their parts and so on.

I like the beach. I like dogs. I am tired of always wearing these boots, and this sleeping bag coat.

The Longest Shortest Month of All

It's funny how things slow down over at Overheard in Portland this time of year. It sort of makes sense, when you think of everyone hibernating, huddling inside by their wood stoves and televisions, no strangers to eavesdrop upon. But things go on in restaurants, coffee shops, ski...lodges. Or whatever. I can't do it all myself, especially with my measurable hearing loss and a big fuzzy hat on top of that, covering my ears, rendering me even more handicapped!

Around here, it's a whole bunch of animal antics, running low on pellets for the stove, sitting constantly so close to the aforementioned stove that I am always thirsty and itchy from its drying effects, drinking hot drinks, eating hot bowls of oatmeal. Shoveling snow, walking in snow.

I've been reading lots and lots, especially enjoying I Hate to Leave This Beautiful Place, a memoir by my former grad school teacher Howard Norman.

We've been watching season two of House of Cards (!!!!!!! is all I can say without spoiling anything for anyone), and Mark and I can't shake our Revenge addiction as we wait for our other favorite lowbrow show, Scandal, to start again (and yes, as you might guess, we started Revenge because Netflix thought we might like it based on our appreciation for one-word melodramatic noun titles). Plus, Isaac worked on a movie set last summer, and the movie starred the star of Revenge! So! Two degrees of separation, basically.

Eating my low FODMAP diet, but it's not doing much for me, digestive-wise. I did hit on a FODMAP-friendly cookie recipe that makes me happy. You can make it with either peanut butter or almond butter, it's super quick, and really delicious.

Drinking coffee with foamy milk thanks to my little milk frother thing my mom gave me--I am so hooked on this gadget!

Listening to the new Beck (aka my favorite Scientologist) album, which you can hear on NPR right now.

Thinking about the fact that my littlest baby will be a high school graduate in three months.

See ya, lazy kitties.

Seventh

I am so happy that my Internet pal Joanna is playing along with NaBloPoMo (god, that rolls off the tongue/keyboard, n'est-ce pas?). She's one of my very very favorite blogger/poet/facebookers, and I hope to buy her a pumpkin whoopie pie one fine day.

I took a nap today, and I had a dreadful dream: I was riding in the backseat of a car being driven by one of Isaac's friends (not a friend who has a driver's license in real life), with another of his friends (one he is currently angry at IRL) riding shotgun. Nobody had their seat belts on, and Christian the first friend was driving like a maniac, running red lights, etc. The music was too loud for them to hear my frantic hollering to slow down. Not only that, but it was my mom and dad's car. Not only that, but I also lived in the Brady Bunch house.

Fourth

I have been reading The Waves, listening to Daughter, eating almond butter on apple slices, drinking my tea with goat milk cuz that's how I roll.

Defining "gentleness" right now, as the pellet stove hums and Theo snores and Gus keeps watch upstairs out the window.

Have you noticed I'm giving NaBloPoMo another go? And another every day-type writing challenge is going on over here.

Bisous.

Blerg!

Because of the rain and the gray and the chill, and the animals' sensitive tummies and their furry butts. And because Mark is back on the job hunt, and because a cup of tea got spilled upon a Necessary Laptop.

But really, things are still more like this:

 

Because, I love almost everyone, almost everything in my life. An old friend came to visit from the past, my girl came home, we've spent some time all-four-of-us, which I love. There has been great food and good movies and a sweet Iron & Wine concert (complete with pre-concert Sam Beam sighting/interaction), friends, family, books, funny telervision,* Hindi music, dogs and their people, magical fog, longer and longer days.

Not only that, but I got Firefox to put the damn photos on my blog.


*Ken Cosgrove tap dancing. All of the blooper reels from The Office, not to mention the stellar final episode.

The Blink of an Eye

I'm trying to be a good blogger, but encountering computery difficulties. I can't seem to upload photos via Firefox, and Chrome isn't getting along with my computer these days.

Wow, that's fascinating technical stuff there, n'est-ce pas?

I think you should watch the current season of Mad Men because it's really good. I think you should hug your pets, because they're such funny little people. I also think you should hire an almost-seventeen year-old boy to show you funny things on the Internets and cook delicious meals for you. I think you should drive around listening to Iron & Wine or The Mountain Goats with your windows down and crying just a little bit. I think you should read every single night before bed, even if you're really really tired. I think you should buy a new raincoat, because it will make you look forward to rainy days. I think you should come over to my house and let me bake you a cake. I think you should send your sweet child out into the world, because she will come back so wise and beautiful and saying words you don't understand but want to know more about.

Blorg

I will nibble on your tiny feet, they are so tiny and delicious.

Oh hello, it is I, onetime- sometime- blogger extraordinaire. Your fairweather blogger. Nothing new has really been happening around here, aside from spring grudgingly not-really-springing, which has brought:

:: More cold weather, interspersed with slightly warmer weather.
:: Flowers in other people's yards! I always forget to plant bulbs in the fall, every year.
:: A couple of iced coffees, a milkshake.
:: Isaac is still a slave to the school calendar, since he takes history at the local public high school, so he took advantage of spring break to visit his adoring San Francisco relatives.

There is a list of spring-related activities. I also spend time looking out the back windows at the yard, full of willow branches and falling-down fence, with a sinking feeling. My birdfeeder attracts no birds and must need to be cleaned. There are dry, deadish things that ought to be cut back to make way for green.

As far as non-seasonal activities, here's another list:

:: Orphan Black on BBC America is a really good science fiction series, a pleasant surprise.
:: MAD MEN.
:: Do this: roast some sweet potatoes in olive oil. Saute some greens and maybe onions and garlic. Salt and pepper on everything. Fry an egg, put it on top. Eat up.
:: My sweet long-lost friend came to visit! We ate noodles and went for a walk and drank warm drinks in the sunshine!
:: Fries and the aforementioned milkshakes with the dancer. That was a two-Melissa day.
:: Oh I am reading If It's Not One Thing It's Your Mother, by Julia Sweeney, and I'm only a few chapters in, but I just love her. I've been reading her blog for a while, and I know I'd like her in real life. She recommends books and movies every month, too.
:: The usual cat-and-dog-shenanigans.

Handsome fella number one.

Handsome fella number two.

"Stop Blogging These Lies."

Best comment ever, scroll down to number six.

before/After

Just kidding. No bathroom photos yet, and--no joke--we hereby begin day number six sans toilet. This post exists for two reasons. First, to share a photo of my favorite plumber at the hardware store (they've got a great bathroom!).

Hardware stores (big and small) smell so good. And they remind me of high school too, since my best friend's family owned the town hardware store and I spent many an after-school afternoon using the weird bathroom in the basement there, and coveting the bins of black O rings (like the ones Madonna wore as bracelets).

And secondly, I am using this post to experiment with bringing capital letters back into my life. I've been thinking about the grammatical/style/font things that drive me crazy, and the fact that there are undoubtedly persnickety people out there who would never even consider reading my blog because it is (typically) written in such a fey style, no capital letters and all. So. We shall see.

sixteen

oho, it's day sixteen. i have now, midway through this month, officially given up on nanowrimo. i know, i know--lame. but who chose november to be national novel writing month, anyway? there's way too much going on in november for it to be the ideal i-think-i'll-write-a-novel month. plus, there are only thirty days in it. at the very least, it should be a month with thirty-one days. like march. note, i am able to keep up with national blog posting month, which is much more my speed.

i am sewing, sewing, sewing, punctuated by occasional vocabulary-quiz-writing and the drinking of coffee and the making of vegetable pot pies and suchlike. the sewing machine seemed to be dying, and mark proved himself to be a fixer of sewing machines (i should not be surprised, considering what i've seen him do with a dishwasher and a furnace).

at night, i read furiously, so as to make a dent in that famous pile o' books. sometimes i leave the house, most often to go back to the library and pick up more books. sometimes i go to trader joe's (man behind me, last night at trader joe's: "i BEG your pardon for staring, but i want to eat dinner at YOUR house tonight." me: "oh..."  note: he was staring at my groceries, not at me).

often while i sew i watch things on hulu or netflix. i watched all the parks and recreation i could, and then i moved on to every movie made in the 1940s that is streaming on netflix. there was one called either the scar or the man who murdered himself or hollow triumph that was so ridiculous. it featured a man masquerading as another man who looked exactly like him except for a scar on his cheek. the man even had the identical german accent. which was especially odd, since the first man's brother did not have a german accent. i kept thinking, "wow, they made some really bad movies in the 1940s too."

three

i came across so many bloggy references to panelle yesterday--which i'd never heard of before--that it was fairly clear the gods were instructing me to make some. i followed this recipe for sandwiches with spinach and bleu cheese. the actual panelle are little fritters made from chickpea flour (somewhat unattractive photo below) that are crispy on the outside, with a layer of chewy inside that, and then creamy. perfect for a sandwich.

 

keep searching, searchers

...and you will find those pretty indian girls and those naked mamas you're looking for. also, these things, whatever they might be:

nasty guinea pigs

cuter than a hedgehog

bruddy blog

what does goofus mean?

gentleman's pennies in the mouth of an indian lady

(and, as always) daniel pepice

i came here a wanderer

just in case you hadn't noticed, there's a link over on the right side of this blog that says "where in the world is zoë?" i'm attempting to keep it updated, so on any given day you can click on it and see a map of where she is, or read something about it. i'm finding china more confusing than india (so many things don't come in english! and i don't know how to pronounce anything!), but i do know that today she is in yangshuo (no, i don't know how to say that), and that there are fabulous, other-worldly green hills there. max's blog has a first-day-in-yangshuo post up!

what mean?

searches that brought people to my bloggity blog recently:

*what mean to be mama?

*when i grow up shovel snow

*what share to google buzz mean?

*momma is maen (sic)

so, nothing too funny, except that now i have a vivid image of an adorable four year-old child typing with one finger, searching for answers to these questions and dreaming of growing up and being big enough to shovel snow.

merry merry

to you from minnow!* i don't know if i'll post much of anything in the next week or so: we're off to north carolina tomorrow morning to celebrate with food and presents and games and family and extra dogs.

*no, these photos were not staged. i discovered him looking guilty with this candy cane on the couch for real.

things you may not know about me

*i have more blogs than maybe you think i do.

*when i'm meditating for a long time, i am filled with the urge to mentally redecorate my house (this may or may not be genetic).

*there are certain songs or parts of songs that fill me with a physical sensation that is nearly full-blown nausea. for example, the part in "sweet home alabama" that goes, "in birmingham they love the governor, ooo ooo ooo." this changes, though: there was a period of time when i couldn't bear to hear any music from the eighties because it too vividly invoked the eighties in my mind. my memory has since dimmed, and now i like a lot of eighties music.

*i shave my legs with a product called beard buster (the cheapest shaving cream money can buy), and it makes me laugh a little every time. also, it makes me think of chaucer, the miller's tale to be specific. no, really. check out line 634.

naked

i've decided to reveal some identities on this here blog-o-mine. i don't know why, maybe it's the five year anniversary. i'm craving change. feeling daring. here goes.

my partner in crime, formerly the mysterious figure known only as "m," is actually mark.























my world-traveling seventeen-and-a-half-year-old daughter, known by many aliases but herein referred to as "bean," is really zoë.


















my sweet and funny almost-fourteen-year-old-boy "boo" is, in reality, isaac.























and "minnow," the dog named for a fish, truly is named minnow.























i really do, in real life, call them bean and boo. i have ever since they were born. zoë was a little bean when she was a baby, and it stuck. isaac was more of a baked potato (it was a hot summer in baltimore). i have no idea where "boo" came from, but there you go. i have never called mark anything but "mark." or "sweetie." i won't even start with the nicknames i have for my dog, because it would be a little bit humiliating.

my fifth birthday was my very favorite one*

mean mama is five years old today! happy blog-writing anniversary to me!!

fascinating facts:

i think it's telling that my very first post was about a trip to the grocery store, and that i surreptitiously took a photograph of a bunch of chicken that the person in front of me was purchasing. i don't blog so much about hannaford lately, but i tweet about it all the time.

i've had over 30,000 page views.

my dog has changed over the years. he used to be darker red, and spottier.

my boy has changed. he hardly ever wears a sailor suit anymore.

my girl has changed. she almost never wears her hair in shrimpies anymore. nor does she carry a parasol.

my pictures have gotten much bigger.

i've baked a hell of a lot of cupcakes in the past five years.

we used to have a fish. now we have a guinea pig.

we used to have a book store. now we have a clothing company.


i could go on and on, but i'll sum this up by saying that when i read back over five years of bloggery, my favorite thing is looking at old pictures of bean and boo and remembering all the fun things the four of us have done together over the past few years. but also? i crack myself up.



*i wore a pink velvet dress.

goofy

recently, my blog was characterized by a close relative of mine as "goofy." oh, okay -- it was bean. my prose is basically a reflection of the random thoughts running through my head on any given day, edited slightly to keep myself out of trouble. so there you go.

here's a serious, work-related note: we have a new starfish print, and it's so pretty.
























above, red and yellow starfish prints on pale pink onesies. it's also available on short-sleeved women's organic tees in pale pale pink.

and now, the goofy details of my life, in no particular order. first, max and bean built a fire pit in our back yard. it may or may not be kosher, but it's awfully cozy.
























bean was accepted to the college of her choice, and let me tell you, there was much rejoicing.
























this is a picture of our favorite recently tenured philosophy professor wearing a giant rabbit head.

bloggity blog

i guess i haven't been adequately documenting my life this week. it's winter break from those crazy schools, and boo is currently learning to ski and snowboard in tahoe with a, j, robot and pink. he's having a fabulous time! bean has been squeezing every moment out of this, the final winter break of her secondary school career. yesterday she and a friend spent the day in boston shopping for saris, eating good food, and discovering a more charming part of waltham than we'd previously been aware of. we've taken minnow to the beach nearly every day, and bean and i took him for a longer hike at wolfe's neck too. snow came, but only about half an inch of it. tomorrow we're going to new york for a few days!