list three things every day that made me happy

1. A and Ramona were home from school. A helped me clean out the refrigerator, which is a job I hate above most other jobs, but it was great having her help. I think it was enlightening for A, too, and might end the trend of bottles and jars put on their side to leak all over the shelves.

2. A and I also watched “Glee” and then she read to me from a Time or Newsweek article about best inventions of the year. We had fun musing and laughing about some of them (a penguin robot? an environmentally friendly car engineered to sound like the vehicles in “Bladerunner”?). It was an enjoyable day, and some nice almost one-on-one time with A.

3. Ramona and I read the books she got from the book fair. Butterflies and Moths has spectacular photography, and some information even Ramona didn’t know about butterflies and moths.

1. P took care of getting everyone up and off to school so that I could have a little vacation time. I went to the gym, and then came home to do a little weaving. I also finished the audiobook I was listening to (The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brief_Wondrous_Life_of_Oscar_Wao). Nice to have some time to do whatever I wanted.

2. Conferences with A’s teachers went pretty well overall. There is the ever-present organization bugaboo, but other than that non-surprise, she’s doing very well.

3. P made seitan and vegetables and mashed potatoes for dinner. Delicious, delicious stuff.

4. Thursday night TV, and I got to knit during it! And without the awful pain afterward either.

11-11-09

1. Went to the zoo with Ramona and P. It was a gorgeous fall day.

2. At the zoo, there was a baby orangutan playing with its mom and dad. They wrestled, hugged, and appeared to be tickling each other. It was spellbinding. P and I could’ve watched all day, if Ramona hadn’t insisted that we move on.

3. Finished knitting the hat for Ramona’s friend Anna. My hand doesn’t seem to be hurting too much from knitting since I got the cortisone shot. Yay!

11-10-09

1. I had parent-teacher conferences with M’s teachers, and P and I had a conference with Ramona’s teacher. M’s teachers were overall very positive about her performance so far.

2. Ramona’s teacher was also very positive, and Ramona has already met all of the K-4 learning expectations for the year. She also makes her teachers laugh a lot. No surprise there!

3. Watched some of the first season of “30 Rock” with P and A. We’d never seen those early episodes before.

1. Ramona slept past 8:30! Decadent.

2. Just as I was about to go to the grocery store at 10:30, P told me the Packers were playing at noon. Instead of fighting the pre-game grocery store rush, I went at noon and got to go to the grocery store virtually alone.

3. Another gorgeous short-sleeved day! M and I walked to and from our mother-daughter book club.

4. Pasta with broccoli and mushrooms for dinner. Tasty.

1. Gorgeous fall day! P mulched leaves, and we took down Halloween decorations indoors and out. 71 degrees!

2. Ramona had her first violin recital. She did a good job, and was very cute. It was also fun getting to hear some of the older students. Some of those kids are amazing! Ramona’s friend Anna came to the recital too, which was nice.

3. Ramona chose Maharaja for her celebratory dinner after the recital. The food was especially good, and it had been awhile since we’d been there. Yum yum yum. Also, they gave A and Ramona free mango ice cream for dessert.

1. Worked out while re-watching “Modern Family.” Good combination.

2. A had a half-day, and Patrick got home from work early, so A, P, Ramona and I went to Noodles for lunch.

3. P and I went out for dinner. The restaurant, Umami Moto, was an Asian fusion restaurant and was kind of disappointing. The tables were too close together for comfortable conversation (with each other at least), and the seaweed salad was kind of limp. The beet, apple and goat cheese salad sounded great, but there was only a single tiny piece of beet and a little blob of goat cheese.

Still, it was great going out and spending time together. Listening to Dan Savage in the car was pretty fun, too.

11-5-09

1. I wasn’t in the mood for the gym or the treadmill, so I took a long walk outside instead. It was nice and chilly, a beautiful fall day.

2. In my weaving project, I finished sleying the reed. Next I thread the heddles. I’m making some dish towels. Ramona watched me for awhile, and was asking to learn to weave. I might see if she has enough coordination to learn to weave potholders.

3. I made potato cauliflower curry and spicy Indian beans for dinner, with jasmine rice and (store-bought) naan. Yummy, although inexplicably the curries weren’t as good as last time.

4. Abbey (dog) kept doing the thing where she walks under my legs and tries to pick me up until I got up and took her and Martha (other dog) for a walk. Funny and motivating.

5. Ramona got mad at me on our way home from school, and said, “When we get home, I might tell you that you’re the ugliest mom in the world!” She didn’t, though.

11-4-09

1. When we realized we had no hot water, I called WeEnergies, and they came quickly and were able to fix things before I left to walk Ramona to school. A contractor working in our neighborhood had taken something apart and left it that way, leaving us without gas. Rude!

2. The cortisone shot I got in my thumb joint didn’t hurt when I got it. It hurt a lot later, but at least I had a few hours before that.

3. Ramona had a play date with her friend Anna. They played together the entire time with no discord, and Anna’s mom and I didn’t have to intervene even once! The only unpleasant part was making Ramona leave when it was time.

4. P, M and A waited on me when I couldn’t use my hand all evening because it was so painful from the injection.

11-3-09

1. I discovered that our stove wasn’t working (I thought—it turned out to be the gas) early enough to put minestrone in the crock pot instead. And the minestrone was really yummy, too. Thanks, Mark Bittman!

2. A got her new glasses. They’re really cute.

3. Ramona and I played dolls for awhile. She’s really into pretending.

1. Did some weaving while Ramona was at school. (I started sleying the reed.) It’s slow work, and not really compatible with the kitten, but I’m enjoying it.

2. Ramona and I went to H and K’s house for a play date. We all had fun, I think. Ramona and H did especially well today.

3. Dinner with everybody at Panera. Their creamy tomato soup is amazing.

4. We went over a bump in the road, and Ramona said, “What was that? Was that a can, or a dead body?” I’m not sure where that came from, but it gave us a good, morbid, post-Halloween laugh.

1. We made it to November 1 without turning on our heat, and we didn’t turn it on today either. Yay us!

2. Sleeping a little extra was nice. I love falling back.

3. Watched some “Arrested Development” with P and the kids. What a funny show, and nice that M and A are old enough to appreciate it now.

4. Took a walk with the dogs, and while a few raindrops hit me, it didn’t pour. And there was a beautiful full(ish?) fall moon floating in and out of the clouds.

1. Took a walk to the library. Chilly fall day.

2. When she woke up, Ramona asked, “Where am I going today?” I said, “Trick-or-treat!” and she said, “Trick-or-treat! Yay! I thought maybe I was going to Gary, Indiana!” Then, all day, she kept singing “Gary, Indiana” and chasing the dogs.

3. I took Ramona trick-or-treating. She stayed out for nearly an hour, a record for her. She was really getting into it.

1. Watched some more “Modern Family.” That show is so funny!

2. Took the dogs for a walk in 60-something degrees. It was drizzling a little, but still nice enough that I went without a coat.

3. Festival of Leftovers! The sweet potatoes and winter squash baked in apple cider were even better than they were the first night.