It is the eve of our all-kids-all-the-time weekend, and instead of trying to plan something fun and stimulating for all of them to do, we’re trying to think of something really subdued. Dull even. You see, Eric, who usually takes on the lion’s share of child wrangling, being a veteran of all-boy sleep overs and ninja war games, is sick. He’s oh-god-I’m-so-sick-I’m-not-being-dramatic-I-HAVE-to-moan-like-this-just-to-stay-alive sick. And I’m just now getting over the same thing.
So tonight will be a test of sorts. Less about fun playing house more about the ugly truth of having four kids bouncing off the walls when all you want to do is knock yourself out with Nyquil and sleep for days.
Eric suggested lining the basement with mattresses, throwing a pizza down the stairs and hiding behind the couch. I don’t think that’s responsible parenting.
I think we should at least put a movie in for them.
Like The Diary of Anne Frank. Or Old Yeller.
............................................................................................................................
We’re having an unusually warm March here in Minneapolis. It’s been raining all week and is supposed to rain all weekend too. Which is tough, cause it will make me feel real bad about kicking the kids out into the backyard all day on Saturday - into the miasma of melting snow, mud and dog poo. But on the other hand, it’s making me so hopeful for spring. Itching to get out there and clean up the yard, reclaim the patio, breathe fresh air.
In truth, these late winter months are always torture for me. I feel like everything is stagnant and soggy and dead. Just waiting for sunshine and warm air, waiting for the rebirth of… of everything. I get so antsy for the season to change that I become aggravated with every little thing that I have been looking at all winter. I hate the dirty windows, the color of the walls, my entire wardrobe, my face in the mirror.
To that end, last weekend, I got a haircut. That might not seem like such a big deal, but it kind of is. For the past twenty years I have been living with basically the same haircut. It’s straight and, usually, long. I get it trimmed a couple times a year. Then every five years or so, I cut it all short, and then grow it out again. But now, for the first time in what seems like forever, it’s a style. Like, not just cut in a straight line right where my bra strap hits the middle of my back. It’s all layery and kind of curlyish and cute. And at first I was a little freaked – cause you know what you have to do with a hairstyle? You have to style it. You have to use stuff on your hair other than shampoo and your fingers.
But I had a sweet little flashback moment this morning. Sitting cross-legged on my bedroom floor in front of the full length mirror, listening to the radio and curling my hair with a curling iron. Just like in sixth grade. All that was missing was the lavender shag carpet of my childhood bedroom.
My new hair is so fabulous, in fact, that Eric thought he should take a picture of it last night. Remember how we just bought a new camera? And neither one of us really knows how to use it yet? By his third attempt at snapping a picture of me, I had tears streaming down my face from the blinding red light that would flash in my eyes before the shutter clicked. And we couldn’t figure out how to turn it off. So, you’ll just have to take my word for it. I have a hairstyle.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
The Backstory
The woman who owned my home before me was an ambitious gardener. But not always.
The way I understand the story, from what she told me at our closing and the gossip I’ve gotten from my neighbors, goes like this:
Once upon a time she had lots of time for gardening and making art. There was a kiln in the garage and a hundred varieties of iris in the many gardens; antique roses, native wildflowers, handmade paving stones, hollow faux boulders, and a reclaimed brick patio. It must have been lovely at one time.
But then, apparently, she had a brain aneurysm. I guess the recovery was tough, and during that time, her husband left her with two young boys and no money. She eventually found herself a job in a very distant suburb. Such a long commute that she went ahead and enrolled her sons in the school of said suburb, so that they could at least be together in the car during the day. Needless to say, spending that much time driving back and forth and being a single mother left her little time to tend to her many gardens. Weeds were not pulled, perennials were not divided, dead branches were left to rot. Also, somewhere in there, she started working with a greyhound rescue, and had three of them in her home. A temporary wire fence cut her beautiful gardens right down the middle.
And so, this not being an ideal situation, she set about preparing to relocate for her job. The house needed a lot of work, and money was tight, so her father and her brother helped her to make some changes that they thought would up the value of the property. I believe many of the materials were recycled, reclaimed, purchased at garage sales, who knows. The front door still has the handwritten price, $3, scrawled on the edge. Every room in the house has a different kind of flooring. None of the light fixtures match, edges aren’t square, trim is missing.
And yet, when I saw the house for the first time, it just felt right to me. Maybe I sensed some kind of kinship with this woman and her story. Mine fell along similar lines. I didn’t even want to buy a house. I didn’t want to move, I didn’t want to start my life over. But I think that I felt that the house would be a forgiving house. It wasn’t perfect, in fact it was kind of a mess. And I felt like I fit perfectly in it.
And so, since it has been mine, I have slowly been regaining my confidence, finding my new identity, and it has been dragged along with me. That first winter, as I was getting used to being alone for the first time in my life, I kept my mind occupied and my hands busy by painting all the rooms on the first floor, filling the rooms with things that made me think of the future, or remember only the good times of the past. I painted my bedroom pink. And then, immediately hating it, repainted it my go-to creamy beige, and didn’t apologize to anyone for the inconvenience. I bought a white couch, because I had always wanted a white couch, and now I didn’t have to answer to anyone when it was covered in muddy dog footprints and spilled coffee.
And that spring I ventured out into the overwhelming jungle that the large corner lot had become. Those greyhounds were diggers. And runners. The yard was a mix of mud and creeping charlie, scattered with dog toys, plastic greenhouse pots, and garbage. The mulberry tree had spread its seeds throughout the yard and sprouted stubborn weed trees in the hedges and cracks of the patio. The gardens were choked with weeds and overgrown daylilies. So I set about raking garbage and leaves and hacking back mulberry bushes. I dug out all the salvageable perennials from four of the gardens, transferred them into the remaining three, then filled all the dog holes with the dirt from the raised beds. I had the mulberry tree and an ash tree that had been struck by lightning cut down. I broke my back hauling dirt, moving rocks and bricks. I called it un-gardening.
I planted grass seed and learned the trick to starting a stubborn lawn mower. And I learned to watch carefully as you mow, no matter how many bricks you’ve already dug out of the yard. I learned not to try to adjust the blade depth by grabbing the thing by its motor when it’s still hot.
I spent all my free weekends outside from morning till night and fell into bed exhausted at the end of the day.
And then I met Eric, and in the flush and fun of a new relationship, I put all these projects on hold. I lost touch with my strong, independent, impulsive Amazon self. Eric, being all male and strong, insisted on mowing my lawn for me, and I let him. I spent my weekends gazing into his beautiful mirror green eyes and pushing the kids on the swings. I replaced appliances when they broke, but otherwise did nothing to the inside of the house. The house has grown stagnant, and the yard is a mess again.
A year has gone by like this. And here we are, moving in together, trying to make this house that I had started to make mine, into ours. I can’t really get away with deciding to paint the family room at nine o’clock then staying up all night rearranging the furniture anymore. Now paint colors must be discussed and time set aside. Other tastes must be considered. Room must be made for collections, for art, for books, for feelings, for personal space. There’s someone else who cares now.
And caring is good. Right?
The way I understand the story, from what she told me at our closing and the gossip I’ve gotten from my neighbors, goes like this:
Once upon a time she had lots of time for gardening and making art. There was a kiln in the garage and a hundred varieties of iris in the many gardens; antique roses, native wildflowers, handmade paving stones, hollow faux boulders, and a reclaimed brick patio. It must have been lovely at one time.
But then, apparently, she had a brain aneurysm. I guess the recovery was tough, and during that time, her husband left her with two young boys and no money. She eventually found herself a job in a very distant suburb. Such a long commute that she went ahead and enrolled her sons in the school of said suburb, so that they could at least be together in the car during the day. Needless to say, spending that much time driving back and forth and being a single mother left her little time to tend to her many gardens. Weeds were not pulled, perennials were not divided, dead branches were left to rot. Also, somewhere in there, she started working with a greyhound rescue, and had three of them in her home. A temporary wire fence cut her beautiful gardens right down the middle.
And so, this not being an ideal situation, she set about preparing to relocate for her job. The house needed a lot of work, and money was tight, so her father and her brother helped her to make some changes that they thought would up the value of the property. I believe many of the materials were recycled, reclaimed, purchased at garage sales, who knows. The front door still has the handwritten price, $3, scrawled on the edge. Every room in the house has a different kind of flooring. None of the light fixtures match, edges aren’t square, trim is missing.
And yet, when I saw the house for the first time, it just felt right to me. Maybe I sensed some kind of kinship with this woman and her story. Mine fell along similar lines. I didn’t even want to buy a house. I didn’t want to move, I didn’t want to start my life over. But I think that I felt that the house would be a forgiving house. It wasn’t perfect, in fact it was kind of a mess. And I felt like I fit perfectly in it.
And so, since it has been mine, I have slowly been regaining my confidence, finding my new identity, and it has been dragged along with me. That first winter, as I was getting used to being alone for the first time in my life, I kept my mind occupied and my hands busy by painting all the rooms on the first floor, filling the rooms with things that made me think of the future, or remember only the good times of the past. I painted my bedroom pink. And then, immediately hating it, repainted it my go-to creamy beige, and didn’t apologize to anyone for the inconvenience. I bought a white couch, because I had always wanted a white couch, and now I didn’t have to answer to anyone when it was covered in muddy dog footprints and spilled coffee.
And that spring I ventured out into the overwhelming jungle that the large corner lot had become. Those greyhounds were diggers. And runners. The yard was a mix of mud and creeping charlie, scattered with dog toys, plastic greenhouse pots, and garbage. The mulberry tree had spread its seeds throughout the yard and sprouted stubborn weed trees in the hedges and cracks of the patio. The gardens were choked with weeds and overgrown daylilies. So I set about raking garbage and leaves and hacking back mulberry bushes. I dug out all the salvageable perennials from four of the gardens, transferred them into the remaining three, then filled all the dog holes with the dirt from the raised beds. I had the mulberry tree and an ash tree that had been struck by lightning cut down. I broke my back hauling dirt, moving rocks and bricks. I called it un-gardening.
I planted grass seed and learned the trick to starting a stubborn lawn mower. And I learned to watch carefully as you mow, no matter how many bricks you’ve already dug out of the yard. I learned not to try to adjust the blade depth by grabbing the thing by its motor when it’s still hot.
I spent all my free weekends outside from morning till night and fell into bed exhausted at the end of the day.
And then I met Eric, and in the flush and fun of a new relationship, I put all these projects on hold. I lost touch with my strong, independent, impulsive Amazon self. Eric, being all male and strong, insisted on mowing my lawn for me, and I let him. I spent my weekends gazing into his beautiful mirror green eyes and pushing the kids on the swings. I replaced appliances when they broke, but otherwise did nothing to the inside of the house. The house has grown stagnant, and the yard is a mess again.
A year has gone by like this. And here we are, moving in together, trying to make this house that I had started to make mine, into ours. I can’t really get away with deciding to paint the family room at nine o’clock then staying up all night rearranging the furniture anymore. Now paint colors must be discussed and time set aside. Other tastes must be considered. Room must be made for collections, for art, for books, for feelings, for personal space. There’s someone else who cares now.
And caring is good. Right?
Monday, March 1, 2010
Georgia
I just changed the font of the text of my blog. Know why? Because I remembered that I absolutely love the shape of a lower case old-fashioned typewriter g.
see that?
g
Isn't it beautiful? All curvy and seductive. With the little serif sticking up off the top, like a jaunty hat, or a playful salute?
anyway.
Happy Monday. And I have a whole lot of other things I want to talk about this week. But right now I need to finish up work, haul home my giant box of Girl Scout Cookies ( I swear I bought enough to last all year) then run out again to grab a gift for my friend Aleks and meet her for her birthday dinner at Cafe Maude. Happy Birthday Aleks!
Oh, and speaking of Aleks. I'll give you a little preview of one of the things I want to talk about soon. I've mentioned that I do flowers for weddings, right? Aleks and Derek got married this summer and I did their flowers.
see that?
g
Isn't it beautiful? All curvy and seductive. With the little serif sticking up off the top, like a jaunty hat, or a playful salute?
anyway.
Happy Monday. And I have a whole lot of other things I want to talk about this week. But right now I need to finish up work, haul home my giant box of Girl Scout Cookies ( I swear I bought enough to last all year) then run out again to grab a gift for my friend Aleks and meet her for her birthday dinner at Cafe Maude. Happy Birthday Aleks!
Oh, and speaking of Aleks. I'll give you a little preview of one of the things I want to talk about soon. I've mentioned that I do flowers for weddings, right? Aleks and Derek got married this summer and I did their flowers.
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