When Life Gets Derailed
You know those times where everything is going along JUST FINE, and then one thing goes wrong and chaos ensues? WELL. My day was going great! I came home from work, had time for a little nap and then headed off to school to pick up my daughter and her friends from marching band rehearsal. I was looking forward to a nice, peaceful night of football, blog reading, and finishing up tomorrow’s post. The kids piled into my car, I turned the key and…. nothing happened. WHAT. NOOOOOOOO! I JUST DROVE here! Everything was fine! After a few more frantic tries I had to conceded that the battery was totally dead. Someone stopped to help and we tried to jumpstart it with no success. Now… I had not just my daughter, but two other kids in the car with me. It was raining (of course it was!) I was WEARING PAJAMAS. I don’t mean “sweatpants that I like to sleep in” but full on, obvious pajamas- the ones in a recent blog post with little pumpkins all over them. And the crowning blow- I was parked in a handicapped space. Now, just to be clear- I don’t make a habit of parking in handicapped spaces. But this was after hours, and it’s common for people to pull into these spaces while waiting to pick up their kids. But I couldn’t leave the car there indefinitely. SIGH. Now let’s look on the bright side: My husband had to go to work, but he had just enough time to come pick us up and drive us all to our house. Once there, I threw pizza in the oven for the kids (who were now stuck at our house instead of being driven home) while calling roadside assistance. Yay for Uber. It was quick, easy and cheap to get an Uber back to the school. There was an event at the school at night, so LUCKILY the gates were still open. Roadside assistance quickly jumped my car with their extra-strong jump box, and I was able to drive straight home. It all could have been much, much worse. When I walked in the door, I discovered that the kids, in my absence, had decided to dye their hair. “Mom! I got dye on my shirt!” “Can you text my mom and tell her I dyed my hair?” “Where’s a towel Abby can use to rinse her hair?” AAAACK! I raced into the bathroom, rescued my special pumpkin hand towels, gathered up red-stained shirts, told the girl to text her own mom, and basically collapsed into a heap. Tomorrow will be a new day. I’ll get a new battery. I’ll get my quiet evening at home. And I’ll get that blog post out, the NaBloPoMo update, one day late. Serenity Now! How was your day? Did anything crazy happen?
New Eyes
The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes. –Marcel Proust Writing my introduction yesterday reminded me why I moved to Florida, and I realized I haven’t been to the beach in quite a while. Wednesdays are my days off, so after I dropped my daughter off I drove to the beach for my run. It was like I was seeing it with new eyes- or, at least old eyes that I haven’t used in a while. When I first moved here I used to look around and think “I’m so lucky- I can’t believe I live here!” Now it seems like all I do is complain about the heat, so it was good to appreciate the fact that I live right near the ocean and DON’T HAVE A WINTER ANYMORE. After my run, and a swim in the ocean, I continued on to do errands. As I made the rounds, I thought about my NaBloPoMo theme, “Every Day Counts.” It almost feels like it’s cheating to do it in November. It’s easy to be present and appreciate each day during the holidays. My tea looks like this: And the parking lot of the grocery store looks like this: I don’t even need new eyes! The world is doing all the work for me. But what happens when the holidays are over and everything goes back to normal? I’m remembering a Christmas years ago- my daughter was three and my son was nine. One evening the three of us went for a walk to look at all the houses decorated in our neighborhood. We walked along exclaiming “Look at that one! It’s Santa! Ooh, it’s the Grinch! Look, these people have an entire nativity scene on their roof!” As my son and I ooh-ed and ah-ed over all the decorations, my daughter bent down to look at something on the sidewalk and exclaimed “Ooooh! A rock!” A rock? No, no, no… that’s not Christmas-y! We’re supposed to be looking at Christmas lights! A rock isn’t special. But to her, it was. Little kids have an incredible ability to find wonder everywhere- I guess because their eyes literally are new. My real challenge is going to be appreciating every day when the holidays are over. When all the decorations are gone and everything seems drab and blah I’m going to challenge myself, every day, to look around and be able to say “Ooooh… a rock.” Check back tomorrow to see how the rest of my NaBloPoMo project is going. Am I getting more sleep? Am I doing better at not comparing what I’m doing to something “better?” And how about the part about not letting other people bring me down? All will be revealed!
NaBloPoMo: Belated Introduction and Colbert Questionert!
I’ve noticed that other bloggers are doing a little NaBloPoMo introduction, and every time I read one I think “What a good idea! I should have done that!” Well… better late than never. Here we go: I’m Jenny! I grew up in a suburb of Chicago, but 24 years ago I moved to South Florida to escape my very severe SAD. I’m married and have an almost-21-year-old son and an almost-15-year-old daughter (both my kids have birthdays in December!). My son is a junior at Baylor University and my daughter is a freshman in high school. I work as a massage therapist. This is my second career- up until I moved to Florida I was a professional trumpet player. If you/ve been reading for a while, you may be sensing a theme here. My husband plays the trumpet, my son plays the trumpet, and my daughter broke the mold by choosing flute. I don’t play anymore, but music is a big part of our lives. I love running, reading, and watching football. And I love blogging and reading other people’s blogs! Speaking of which… A couple weeks ago Stephany posted her answers to the Colbert Questionert and I’m stealing the idea from her. Grab a pen and paper and let’s go! Best sandwich?—Several years ago I got a tofu banh mi from a vegan restaurant in Tallahassee- this still stands out in my mind as the best sandwich eating experience, ever. What’s one thing you own that you really should throw out?—The pajamas I’m wearing right now have holes in them, so I should probably choose them! What is the scariest animal?—Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake- deadliest snake in north America (eek!) Apples or oranges?— If it’s a honeycrisp, apple for sure. But if you’re trying to trick me into eating a red delicious, I’ll take the orange. Have you ever asked someone for their autograph?—Hmmm. I think in my youth I got a baseball player’s autograph at Wrigley Field. What do you think happens when we die?— I believe the basic elements that make up the human body- oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, hydrogen, etc.- are absorbed back into the universe. Whether our present consciousness survives this experience intact, is transformed into something different, or ceases to exist entirely is beyond my ability to comprehend or imagine. I also admit the possibility that I could be completely wrong about this. Favorite action movie?— I know this is a stretch but I’m going to say Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 Favorite smell?—It’s a tie between Christmas trees and candy canes. Least favorite smell?—Extremely moldy food that’s been in the back of the fridge for months. Exercise: worth it?—Hell yes! Flat or sparkling?—Sparkling. Most used app on your phone?—message, podcast and weather. I’m pretty boring! You get one song to listen to for the rest of your life: what is it?— Does Bach B Minor Mass count? If so, I’ll pick that. What number am I thinking of?—21. Describe the rest of your life in 5 words?—Don’t waste a single day! Have you taken the Colbert Questionert? Pick one question and answer it in the comment section!
Reading and Eating
It has been quite a while since I’ve done one of these posts, mainly because I don’t have a lot to report, reading-wise. I read a very long (almost 1000 page) book, and then NaBloPoMo started and I’ve been spending waaay more time than usual reading blogs. But I do have two books to share! First of all, I finished this one: So, so good. I love this series so much, and this one was possibly my favorite. Robin goes undercover to investigate a cult, and it was fascinating, suspenseful, and just so well-written. It’s always hard to pick the next book after an experience like that, so I fell back on Louise Penny. I’m slowly making my way through her series. Now, I’m going to say something possibly controversial: I don’t love Louise Penny. I like her books, but I don’t love them. There’s something about her writing style that irritates me- I think it’s the constant use of fragmented sentences. I keep coming back to her because I know I’ll like the book well enough, and this one was good. It’s a solid mystery that takes place in Three Pines around Christmas, which is always fun. It had a nice, satisfying ending. I might get the next one in the series if they have it at my library BECAUSE I’M HAVING A LIBRARY CRISIS. They did something to their website and now it won’t recognize my card number/PIN, which means I can’t place any holds, ACK! I have to get over their ASAP to get this straightened out. Okay, eating! I may not have been reading as much but I’ve definitely been eating plenty. This first one does not look appetizing but it was delicious. It’s the Caramelized Onion- Butternut Roast with Chestnuts from Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s Veganomicon cookbook. It was so, so good- my only complaint would be, it tasted like a delicious Thanksgiving side dish, but with a main course effort level. The weird triangular thing on the plate was the most delicious focaccia from this recipe. This focaccia was AMAZING! It deserves a better picture: Next up, chili! I used this recipe that I heard about on The Girl Next Door Podcast. I subbed tempeh for the meat, and used vegetable broth. Here’s how the conversation went that day- Husband: “What’s for dinner?” Me: “Chili…” Husband: “Again? Didn’t we just have chili?” Me: “…and cornbread.” Husband: “Ooooh! Okay!” I’ve learned that I can get away with almost anything when cornbread is involved. This was our meal the night before Halloween, and when I texted a photo to my sister, she replied that to complete the look, our utensils should be made out of bones. Lastly, here’s an oldie but goodie. I can’t remember where I got this recipe from- it was either Suzanne or Birchwood Pie. I get a lot of dinner ideas from them! The recipe is for Szechuan sauce which I use for a stir fry. The reason this is a go-to is that my daughter actually likes it- so I fall back on it anytime I can’t think of anything else to make. What are you reading right now? Have you read either of these books? Do you have an easy go-to recipe? Header photo by Blaz Photo on Unsplash