I really can’t stop listening to this.
And I really can’t stop watching this. (Headphones necessary at work!) Damn, that cat gets me every time.
Archive for May, 2009
Can’t Stop
Tuesday, May 12th, 2009God, I Needed That
Monday, May 11th, 2009Rollie just walked in the house. I was bracing for “I’m hungry,” “Tiller destroyed your flowers!” or something along those lines. I was not prepared for:
“Mama, do you want me to show you how to do the Macarena? Gracie knows how to do the Macarena and she taught me.”
[Stifling a laugh.] “Uh, Yeah!”
He proceeds to do the Macarena, including the little hands on hips hipshake part, once in each direction.
North. South. East. West.
The look of concentration on his face was the best part. He even messed up once and grunted and made a face and started over again. I don’t think he even knows that there is music that goes with the dance.
And he will not. Ever.
Chattanooga, Friday
Saturday, May 9th, 2009We’re in Chattanooga. Mom, Lisa and I drove up yesterday afternoon. The drive up was uneventful, except for a portion near Dalton where we got the giggles over stories of things we have done or said while sleeping. The one that really got us was Todd’s nightmare about the ghost, where I awoke to him moaning. I thought he was dying. He was trying to scream in a nightmare. This also happened to me when camping with Scott Phillips one time; he dreamed a bear was attacking the tent. I awoke in the same tent to him thrashing around and screaming like a baby. I thought we were goners. There was also the time that Rollie was a newborn and Todd and I were sleep-deprived. I woke up to Todd sitting on the side of the bed, rocking the baby. I sat up, because it seemed weird. I looked down. No baby. He was half-awake, half dreaming that he had gotten up with Rollie and was rocking him. It was so freakin’ creepy. Now those stories make me laugh.
What doesn’t make me laugh? This. Talk about me having nightmares. . . .
I digress.
So, we got to Chattanooga, and checked in at The Read House. I Pricelined it, so there was a smidge of a chance that we would get a King instead of two doubles, which would have been . . . cozy. We lucked out. It’s pretty beautiful, and just reminds me of stories my mom and grandma told me growing up about dances and parties and events there. Mom was genuinely excited about coming home to Chattanooga and i could tell she was really excited about staying here, which made me feel good.
Lisa and i got settled in and Mom went out on her own to look around. Then lisa and i decided we needed a drink. We started walking and came across this church. We recognized it as the church my parents were married in:
So, then we walked down Broad Street and found Big River. They had beer. I like beer.
After dinner, we walked a ways, then took the shuttle. I shot this one of The Bijou Theater.
We made a little of a ruckus in the hallway at The Read House, too.
And then we were in bed by 10:30, because we are old as hell.
Good News Friday!
Friday, May 8th, 2009I was kind of stressed out today, trying to get out of town, but this makes it much, much better. I’m sure he won’t, but it would be nice if they fried this guy. If he did it, I’m okay with it hurting him, and I’m okay with his brains melting out his ears. I’m okay with all his family and friends crying about it on tv, too.
I know, I am black-hearted, I guess. But knowing there is one less waste of oxygen on the streets makes me feel better. Also impressed that Atlanta Police were actually able to do something about this.
Well, that just makes perfect sense.
Thursday, May 7th, 2009“Mama, will you help me get an orange shirt?”
“Why?”
“I would like to go on the rocketship, and land on a cloud and then walk to the store.”
“Okay.”
Tiller just looks at me expectantly.
“So, what do you need the shirt for?”
“Because my brother said we could only go if we have orange shirts.”
“Well, let’s get you an orange shirt, shall we?”
True Love
Wednesday, May 6th, 2009I woke up to Todd nudging me and then resting his hand on my stomach. I hate that.
Me: “Is it my turn to get up?”
Todd: “Yes.”
Me: “Ten more minutes.”
Todd: “I’m going to stick my finger in your belly button. . .”
Me: “I’m going to punch you in the fucking face. And then the nuts.”
Todd: “I love you, too.”
Dogwood Girl and The Black Hearts
Monday, May 4th, 2009Rollie and Tiller were acting up in the bathtub tonight. I got them out immediately (they usually get to play for a while) and Rollie stood shivering in his towel, lower lip quivering, and told me, “You don’t love me at all! You never loved me! You don’t have a red heart, you have a black heart!”
“Baby, where did you come up with that?”
“I don’t know, red is love and black is hate!” he yelled.
“I love you no matter what you do, and no matter how much i don’t love your behavior, Rollie,” i said, pulling the towel over his head like a hood and looking into his eyes. “Now go put on your PJs.”
Later, in his room, when he found out that he lost his bedtime story due to his behavior, he threw a tantrum. I told him to get into his bed. I said, “Night night, baby. I love you very much.”
Still angry with me, he pulled away from my kiss on his head and sputtered, “You have a . . a thousand, thousand black hearts!”
I struggled not to laugh or smile. Laughing at bad behavior is a parenting no-no. But in my blackest heart of hearts, I was so very bewitched by the poetry of my son telling me off.
Chicago
Saturday, May 2nd, 2009So lame with the blog updates. . . just now updating on Chicago anniversary trip.
First of all, I hate flying.
We had a hard time ever leaving. Our first plane had mechanical difficulties, so they gave us another one, but we had to have our seats reassigned. Then we got on and sat at the gate for 25 minutes while they took care of a maintenance issue. Then we taxied out on the runway. Then we turned around and went back to the gate because the pilot “didn’t feel comfortable with the mechanical problems we were having.” Very reassuring. By this time, we were already an hour behind, and I was starting to worry about my Xanax lasting through takeoff, much less the landing at Midway. We got off the plane and went to different gate to reboard our third plane. Of course, we had to go through the whole boarding thing again. I popped another Xanax for good measure.
Takeoff and flight were uneventful, but when we got to Midway, we came in for landing, then before we touched down, the pilot pulled back up and said that he apologized, but he “wasn’t comfortable with conditions on the ground.” Awesome. Just let me clean up this puke on the head of the lady in front of me, and then perform surgery on the broken bones in Todd’s hand, and I’ll be ready to go again.
Second landing attempt was fine, but at that point, i was pretty exhausted from all that concentrating that I did to hold the plane up in the air.
At Midway, we got on the train to head out to Tom’s neighborhood. Tom is Todd’s friend from Auburn. I only get to hang out for snippets with Tom, but I love him. He is funny and a little strange. The first time I met him was around the time Todd and I got married, and then he has visited a few times since. We also stayed with him when he lived in San Francisco. So, Tom met us at the station and then we walked back to the apartment
(I love visiting a great walking city and Chicago fits the bill), stopping on the way to grab beer at the liquor store. That was where I first ran into my new favorite beer:
When I saw it, i got all excited, then looked at the price and said, um, no. So, i took a picture of it. But then I ended up having one later. It was great. More on that later.
It was raining that day, and so we decided to drink and grill out, so we wouldn’t have to walk in the rain. Tom lives with his girlfriend Tara, and their apartment is awesome. Kind of a 20s/30s feel, with tons of space, a porch, sunroom, living room with fireplace, bedroom, dining/sitting area, office/closet and a big kitchen and pantry. For some reason it made me yearn for city apartment living. I conveniently blocked out the fact that I have children and it would be a horrible place to live with them. In my daydream, I guess I was 25 and had a fabulous, exciting high-paying job.
We ended up running out of beer (how did that happen?) and so Todd and i offered to go back out to the liquor store. We borrowed raincoats and umbrellas and headed back to the liquor store. Did I mention that the liquor store had a dog? His name is Cosmo.
I know. Sometimes my travel posts are just about my Pet Tourette’s in a different city. . . .
We walked back in the rain. Vacation is great; even the walking in the rain toting wet bags of beer is fun. Here is Todd hiding out under the shelter of an old fire station.
So, Tom and Tara’s friends came over to meet us and grill out. We had yummy grilled meats and homemade salsas and guacamole – Tom is quite a good cook. By the time the friends all got there I was pretty toasty, but these folks, Lucas and Lizzie, still let me hold their baby, Liam.
I talked to them for a long time and really enjoyed it. One of my favorite things about travel is meeting new people. I know a lot of folks who say that their lives are too busy for keeping up with old friends, much less meeting new people, but I guess I kind of crave meeting new people. It always feels like I have been recharged the day after experiencing new people. It just feels healthy to me. I liken it to when the kids have new experiences and it’s like they are sponges that just soak them up. It is like you can see their little synapses firing after a new experience.
The boys did the grilling. I think Todd is cute when he is happy and hanging out with his Auburn boys:
Here are our wonderful hosts, at the dinner table:
Please note pots on shelf in background. Tom has done all this really great pottery, and I forgot to take pictures of it, which is a bummer. I believe he said something about trying to throw 500 pots? I don’t remember exactly, because I was drinking, but there were tons of them. Attempts to sneak one into my luggage failed
Here are Todd and Tom with some more of the guests, nice guys all:
And one more:
Hmm. Perhaps the reason i felt so “recharged” was all the men hanging around! It was definitely not the uncooperative cold and rainy weather.
There was more rain the next morning when we got up. Even though the weather channel was telling us there was not more rain. We had no idea how to dress, so, we ended up with umbrellas and rainjackets and hats and short sleeves underneath. Layers turned out to be the way to go, as it rained off and on all day.
Tom and Tara had other plans that morning, so Todd and I walked around the corner and a few blocks to Big Jones. Tom had told us that they had “good” grits and fried green tomatoes, but Tom is from Chicago, so i was doubtful. But he said fried green tomatoes and then I had to have them, even if they sucked. They didn’t! Totally the right consistency and batter. Just needed a little salt. Todd’s shrimp and grits were pretty good, too. It felt weird to eat “Southen Coastal Cuisine” in Chicago.
We walked back out into the weather to take the train to the Art Institute. I took pictures of cool signs (one of my favorite things to do, especially vintage ones. Chicago had some great ones.) I loved the wedding cake sign on this bakery:
And the handbells on these imprints in the pavement. Why handbells?
And you can never have too many shots of church signs:
The Art Institute of Chicago was by far my favorite part of the trip. I could go back and spend a week there. I will, too, because the Modern stuff was mostly off exhibit due to the new wing construction they are doing. And the Cubs weren’t in town, so i have to go back for a game.
We saw so much amazing stuff that I couldn’t even begin to name them all. It is truly a museum where you turn every corner and find another masterpiece that you doubted that you would ever see in person. One of my highlights was seeing the three Ivan Albrights on display. I could have looked at them all day. (My photos don’t do them justice.)
We saw this:
And this:
And this:
And then Todd and I split up; I wanted to see the Impressionism and Post-Impressionism. He wanted to see Renaissance stuff. Mine was way better.
I saw this:
And this:
And this:
See that lady with the umbrella? She is a couple feet taller than Todd. This thing is huge in person. You could spend an hour looking at it from afar and another hour staring at each little detail up close. See? Here is the monkey:
Check this out:
And this!
Oooh!
Ah!
I really was pretty blown away. My pictures don’t do justice to the individual works, and they certainly don’t reflect the sheer numbers of awesome things we saw. They have whole rooms of Gaugin and Monet. One of the funniest exhibits was a paperweight collection. Who knew paperweights could be so beautiful and varied?
It was just the best way to spend an afternoon. I didn’t want to leave.
Wooh. I think this is going to be a two-parter. . .
Well, Duh, Mom.
Friday, May 1st, 2009
Tiller girl
Me: “Um, Tiller, what happened to the skirt you were wearing?” She was wearing a pair of jeans.
Tiller: “I didn’t want to wear it anymore.”
Me [wary of possible hazmat incident]: “Why not?”
Tiller [matter of factly]: “Because I was going to be a koala bear and my legs would get hurt.”
Oh, of course!