Our Standing Date

Since the start of lawn mowing season, my daughter and I have started a tradition that we follow to such absolute, that people have noticed.  We are expected to show up at a certain  place at a certain time, every week.

Monday, I come home from work, I mow the lawn.  I get hot and sweaty and a little emotional because when I'm mowing the lawn I tend to think introspective thoughts and sometimes that hurts a little.  So I come in the house, turn on all 3 bedroom fans, blast myself with cool breezes before I feel human again.  

Then we go go out to our favorite Mexican restaurant.  

I don't need to celebrate TGIF.  I need to celebrate ISM (I Survived Monday)!  And also, I hate mowing the lawn.  The chips and salsa are my reward.

So every Monday night, my daughter and I sit in the air conditioned restaurant, eating our favorite meals, and talk about our day.

The only good thing about it being so dry and the grass not growing: I don't mow on Monday and I don't miss our date night quit so much while she is France!

The Garner Files

***In honor of one of my favorite actors, I am reposting something I wrote in 2012.  

James Garner will be missed.***

If you've read this post from the past, then you know I love James Garner.  

And now that I've read The Garner Files, I love him even more!

A good autobiography needs to include interesting anecdotes: check.
And a handful of intimate details you weren't sure you wanted to know about your hero: check.
It should also have a collection of fascinating photos that you can't help but look through before you start reading, several times while you are reading, and just a few more looks after you read the last line: check.
It should inspire you to revisit the movies and shows that made you a fan of your favorite actor in the first place: check.
If it also pulls at your heartstrings and grows your admiration of the man behind the actor, then it is a darn good autobiography!

And in chapter eleven, when he says my favorite movie, Murphy's Romance, is one of his favorite movies....and devotes 4 pages to it and includes the dialogue from the last scene which he considers one of the great love scenes ever which I quite agree with, then, this book is going on my must read again list.

Grocery Store Surprises

I got carded tonight at the grocery store.  I was surprised; I've been through this guy's line a hundred times.  I wasn't expecting it and I had to dig an embarrassing long time to find my ID.

After checking my date of birth, he asked how my day was going, other than not expecting to be carded.  I laughed and said it's been good, and now surprising.  He went on to say he really was surprised to see how old I was.  He never would have guessed.  I blushed furiously, hot and blazing red, partly due to being embarrassed and partly due to being pleased.

He said he thought maybe 29, but young enough he wanted to make sure I was legal.

Well, thank you very much, kind sir!

I'm going to be 40 next month.  I say that with pride.  I have never felt better, happy, more at ease with myself.  I'd pick 40 over 29 any day of the week!!

New Discoveries

I have often said I am not a huge fan of ice cream.  I'm not saying I hate it, and there are even hot summer evenings that I crave it, but over all, I wouldn't miss ice cream if it disappeared from the world.

Now, mashed potatoes is entirely different.

I am currently embarking a new adventure in my life: my husband is back at sea, my daughter is spending the summer in France, my son has moved out, so it is just me and the dogs living alone.  I stay up too late reading, I get up early to walk in the cool peacefulness of dawn, I laze about on the couch listening to classic country music just a little too loud, I eat huge salads every night for dinner, and for dessert: mashed potatoes.

I know, it is not a dessert.  But I would take a bowl of potatoes over a bowl of ice cream any day!  So after I eat my hearty salads, full of fiber, protein and lightly dressed with a light vinaigrette, after that I treat myself to a bowl of mashed potatoes.

As I was savoring them, licking the spoon and making sure every speck was consumed by me, I thought, this might be weird.

And then I thought, eh, who cares?  I love them!

Unstoppable Joy

I saw the sunrise today; I watched gray skies slide into shades of pink and yellow and blue.

I watched the morning stretch and unfurl and glow; I saw the promise of this day.

This moment, I thought, I don't want to forget; the unstoppable joy of a new start.

Getting Back To Health

My road to recovery from illness is always waylaid by my urge to get things done.  I have a very hard time resting and by resting I mean literally reclining on the couch not doing anything as the dust bunnies build a village under the dining room table and the dirty laundry becomes Mt. Everest.  I always push myself too hard and recovery takes longer because of that.

Which is why I went to work 3 out of 5 days last week, and came home sick on two of those.

But today I woke up feeling better.  The sun was shining and my ear wasn't aching and my cough was down to a manageable level.

I went to work full of enthusiasm, filled with joy at just being alive and able to get ready for work without becoming exhausted.  

That euphoria faded around 11:30.  Thank goodness I live close enough to work that I could come home at lunch and nap!  I still feel better, I am on my way back to good health, but I think I will skip the weeding I thought I might attempt this evening.

I'm trying to recognize when the urge to accomplish things is crazy.

I think weeding after my first day back at work in a week qualifies!

17 Years Ago Today

Today I am not spending it how I have for the last 17 years.  We are missing our birthday girl!  But I wanted to make sure she knows I am thinking of her.  I sent her birthday messages and love and then spent hours going through old albums and scanning pictures of her from birth to now.

When she woke up this birthday morning, she did not have a morning present from Mom and Dad waiting to be unwrapped or Swedish pancakes for breakfast, but she did have so many notifications from Facebook: tags and likes and comments and there is no doubt that she is loved and missed!

After I posted the album, I told my husband I thought it was one of my favorite projects I have ever done, and he agreed.  Then we both reached for some tissue....

Happy Birthday Leah!!