Monthly Medley: September 2024

 

This month's Monthly Medley is coming to you a little early, since next week's posts are reserved for my (soon-to-be) 18-year-old man-child.

Reading

Zero Days by Ruth Ware definitely wasn't my favorite of her thrillers, but it certainly wasn't a bad read if you like mysteries (which I do). I think my biggest beef with the story was that Ware's descriptions of events, activities, encounters, escapes, etc. were frequently too long and detailed. I love an author who paints a picture with her words...whose descriptions are so good that you can imagine yourself in the scene and feel like you're walking alongside the protagonist. But at some point, the character is just "climbing a ladder," and that process shouldn't take four pages to explain.  

I also read First Comes Love (I know, two books in one month, and September isn't even over yet!) by Emily Giffin. I used to read all of Giffin's books as soon as they were released, but it had been probably three years since I'd picked up one of her novels. This emotionally challenging yet endearing and completely relatable (at least to anyone who has siblings) story about all different kinds of love hit the spot for me in between suspenseful mysteries.

Watching

This month I watched the Netflix documentary Sign Stealer, as well as The Perfect Couple, a Netflix short series. Sign Stealer was average, but I loved The Perfect Couple and was sad when it ended after only six episodes. 

I also watched and enjoyed the pilot of High Potential staring Kaitlin Olson in a role completely different from everything I've seen her in before. I'm looking forward when the next episode of this new show comes out next week, as well as when all of the networks' new fall shows start dropping!

Listening To

I tried three new podcasts this month, but none of them stuck, which is kind of a shame because I'm a little tired of my usual podcasts. I continue trying new podcasts next month, so hopefully I'll have something new to report at the end of October!

Following

I've been thoroughly enjoying Emily Vondy (@emilyvondy), a video creator whose specialty is "motherhood in all it's wild glory." She's funny and creative and honest and I wish I'd followed her when my kids were younger.

Wearing

This was a month for new shoes - I "accidentally" picked up three pairs at DSW while on a shoe shopping trip with/or Tom. 

• I'd been looking for a pair of maroon sneakers to wear to high school, club soccer, and Aggie sporting events (yep, they're all maroon), and this pair kind of fell into my lap. They're comfortable and cute, and I LOVE the pink laces. 
• I'd also been looking for a slide or loafer for fall, and this driving loafer (I chose tan) fit the bill. The best features of these shoes are its arch supports and cushy sole, which took them up a notch compared to other loafers I've tried on recently.
• I wasn't looking for this last pair, but these Mary Jane flats (I chose taupe) were on super clearance so I decided to give them a try. I was worried that either I couldn't pull them off or they'd age me, but they felt pretty good and Hallie told me I didn't look stupid when I wore them for the first time.

Trying/Using

This set of three pairs of sunglasses could fall into this category or the one above, but since I bought and highlighted three pairs of shoes already, we'll put it here. I wear out my sunglasses - the result of just wearing them A LOT - pretty regularly, so I'm always looking for inexpensive new pairs to add to my stash. They're obviously not the highest quality available, but they're polarized, lightweight, and comfortable, and they get the job done at a very reasonable price!

At just $6, I couldn't afford not to try this under eye brightener (with hyaluronic acid and shea butter). I was pleasantly surprised to discover that it actually does make my under eye area look brighter, which contributes to me looking more awake...even when I don't feel that way.

Eating/Drinking

Our only new recipe worth sharing this month is this fudge-filled vanilla bundt cake. Hallie actually served as head chef on this one (the two new recipes I tried didn't make it to the keep/share list), and while she followed the recipe exactly with a delicious result, she has one edit she'd try if making the cake again. We both thought it was a little weird that there was sugar in the cake and in the glaze but not in the filling, so if she were to do it over again, she'd cut the amount of sugar in the cake a little and add that amount of sugar to the filling. 

Smiling About

• The world's most entertaining (dramatic? flamboyant? fabulous?) referee. I would love to watch this guy work.
• This dog needs a kiss on his nose before each meal. Oh, my heart.
• Turns out middle schoolers get the zoomies too. I've saw Will do every single one of these during his 6th - 10th grade years.
• This view of Stephen Nedoroscik's ("Pommel Horse Man") teammates watching him compete his routine and secure the bronze medal for team USA.

Happy fall, y'all!

Just kidding. It's not fall here.

High Five for Friday (9.20.24)

 

A couple of times a year I introduce a High Five for Friday post with a disclaimer of sorts, a reminder that while most weeks offer a reason(s) to high five, most weeks aren't made up of only high fives...and some weeks are nearly void of high fives altogether. I don't ever want to give the impression that I'm not deep in the trenches of motherhood and marriage and work and health alongside of those who read these posts. 

HFFF posts help me focus on the good things, which I find especially important when those good things are happening in the midst of - nearly buried by - a bunch of crappy, stressful, anxiety-inducing things. The last week or so has felt pretty heavy for me, and if that's the case for you as well, know that I'm thinking about you and hoping you can find something to high five about too. 

One

How did we get here?

Two

I couldn't possibly be prouder of him.

Three

No one loves the rain like she does. It's one of my top five favorite things about her. 

Four

Tom was at a conference in Phoenix for the better part of last week, and while there, he was able to spend time with a few of his friends from graduate school. 

Tom met Neal and Dan back when we lived in Ann Arbor and they were all working on their master's degrees and PhDs at the University of Michigan. Neal and Dan have known our kids since they were born, and were with us through the first almost four years of Will's life and 18 months of Hallie's; they hung out with the kids frequently, and even babysat a time or two. While Neal and Dan don't know the kids at their current ages, they certainly remember them, so when the three guys sent me this picture...

...I sent them back these pictures - plus the picture above of Will in his cap and gown - to remind us all how old we really are.

Five

Happiness Highlights

She convinced him to play in the rain with her
too - they raced "boats" (popsicle sticks) in the
street streams until the water stopped flowing.

Fake Fall arrived and stuck around
for one AMAZING morning. (Spoiler:
summer quickly returned.) 

A friend/teammate of Will's set up this net on a cement
slab in the middle of a field near our house. (There used to
be something on this slab, but whatever it was came down
when the field was "relandscaped" for drainage.) I love that
he figured out a way to actually use the slab, as the field
sitting empty has always been a beef of mine.  

She was NOT fooled by the "make a box-shaped square on the
floor so your cat will sit in it like it's a box" trick. She's too smart... 

Senior breakfast for orchestra kids - looks like fun! 

A good (and well deserving) friend of Will's
was featured on Classroom Champions! If you
looked hard enough during the video footage of
Ben in math class, you can see Will sitting a
couple of rows back. 😂)

Friday Night Lights! We're loving watching
Hallie's friend Abby CRUSH this new adventure!

 Sunday night - family game night - on the porch,
under the lights, after the rain. Perfection.

Over the summer, lightning struck the kids' high school's auditorium.
Repairs will take place soon, but because the sound/light systems aren't
fixed yet, the first choir concert of the year was moved to a local church.
The kids sounded great, and we enjoyed both the concert and our
family dinner out afterwards.

Friends who know how challenging your week has
been and bring cake to you while you're working = 😍

Happy weekend, friends!

Cupids, Dragons, and Sasquatches, Oh My!

Since we moved to Texas 13+ years ago, we've made regular trips to Houston. At first, we drove into the city for its touristy establishments, like museums or the zoo, or to access the airport. But eventually we started driving to Houston much more regularly - almost every weekend for at least six months of the year - for Will's soccer games. My best estimate is that we've make the trek to the Houston area at least 200 times, but that number is probably closer to 250. 

Why does this matter, you ask? Because the number of times we've driven to Houston is not much higher than the number of times we've driven past Frazier's Ornamental Concrete. 

According to their website, Frazier's is "one of Texas' best known resources for home and garden décor and commercial site furnishings." That sounds kind of boring, and not like a topic about which to write a blog post, but believe me when I tell you that this place isn't what you're envisioning. (Unless you've been there, of course. If you've been there, you know what I'm talking about.) Everything is bigger in Texas...and that includes home and garden stores.

Frazier's has been in business for more than 50 years, offering customers traditional as well as unique (and even strange or weird, in some cases) ornamental and architectural pottery, planters, sculptures, statues, furniture, and fountains...and offering passersby an interesting visual distraction as they transition from Highway 6 to Highway 290 or vice versa. Frazier's can apparently do special orders, but I'm not sure why anyone would need to place a special order because, from what I've seen, they carry just about anything you could imagine already. 

Benches, fountains, wishing wells? ✔

Birds, owls, deer? ✔

Cats, dogs, barnyard animals? ✔

Polar bears and gorillas? ✔

Statue of Liberty, Cupid, Mother Mary? ✔

UFOs, aliens, sasquatches? ✔

Dragons, dinosaurs, gargoyles? ✔

I read that Frazier's is popular among tourists - and that actual tour buses stop there on occasion - which makes sense, given both what they offer and the sheer size of the property. Again, everything is bigger in Texas.

Sculptures and statues as far as I could see in
this direction...and in most other directions as well.

A couple of months before his birthday, Tom decided he wanted a chiminea as a gift. I did a little research online and popped into a few local garden shops and bigger chain stores, but I couldn't find one I liked. So one afternoon on our way home from Houston (our trip to the Museum of Illusion), the kids and I - completely on a whim - whipped off the highway and into the Frazier's parking lot. 

It was a million degrees outside. More accurately, it was 100 degrees outside. But it felt like a million degrees outside because there were no clouds in the sky and there was no breeze, and Frazier's IS NOT AIR CONDITIONED. The chimineas were outside anyway, but it would have been nice to have the option of cooling off inside after wandering the chiminea "department." 

We browsed for only a few short minutes, both because of the heat and because of what felt like hundreds of wasps planning an attack against us. And while we found a few we liked, I just didn't feel like I could make a decision under those conditions. I completely understand not being able to have all product inside - the grounds go on for what feels like forever - but the conditions just weren't ripe for shopping.

I knew I wanted to purchase Tom's chiminea from Frazier's though - they had the nicest product and getting one from this Texas landmark would make the gift more special. So a few days later, Hallie and I dressed in our coolest and most breathable attire, steeled ourselves to face the wasps, and drove back to Frazier's. We made our selection, paid for our purchase in the non-air conditioned building, and waited patiently while they graciously loaded and secured our extraordinarily heavy chiminea in the back of my car. (Getting it out of the car later was a challenge, but Hallie and I managed it on our own!)

Her permanent location is yet-to-be-determined -
she's been seeing how she feels in different spots
while Tom does some backyard cleaning. 

Tom loved his birthday present, and it's been fun for all of us to have something from this Texas establishment at our home. Frazier's website invites customers to "come and experience how just walking into Frazier's can lift your spirit and, perhaps, change your life for the better." And while I feel like that assessment is a bit of an exaggeration, I admit that after visiting Frazier's myself I definitely consider this shopping destination worth a road trip! But maybe not in the middle of summer...

High Five for Friday (9.13.24)

 

One

Hallie transitioned to a new - not just to her, but to the community - dance studio this summer. The decision to move on from the studio at which she'd danced for 11 years was somehow both a hard one and an easy one, and was accompanied by a wide variety of emotions. But after a solid summer of intensives and a great start to regular fall classes last week (and with anticipation for the studio's upcoming move into new space), she and I are excited about this next dance adventure ahead of her.

Two

My girl isn't so into pep rallies or football games or joining stuff in general, but she did sing the National Anthem with her choir at Consol's first home football game and then stayed until halftime to watch the dance team and band perform. (I may have bribed her to stay with hotdogs and popcorn from the concession stand.) Will was there too, or so says Life 360 😂, but Hallie and I didn't see much of him that night. 

I really do love high school football and Friday night lights.

Three

After halftime, Hallie and I headed across the street (from the stadium to the school) for the choir lock-in. She stayed all night, but because I had to get up early on Saturday, I only chaperoned until midnight - at this point in my life there's no way I could make it through a full day of Nutcracker-ing (a full day of anything, really) on an hour of sleep. 

Choir is the only student organization granted permission to hold a lock-in in the high school, and I'm so glad she/I went - it was a blast, and a really cool opportunity to experience the school in a different light (or lack there of 😉).

The event is put on by the choir leadership team. They were so well organized and the entire night so well coordinated - every minute is accounted for with games and activities and food, which means both no sleep and (hopefully) no trouble. Below is a pic of the video that kicked off an epic 90-minute scavenger hunt and a pic of the teams huddled together to figure out their first clues. Between the scavenger hunt and other games, Hallie logged FIVE MILES that night!

Four

We have new babies! All four of the Antihistamines* - Claritin (Clare), Benadryl (Benny), Allegra (Allie), and Zyrtec (Zee or Tec) - stayed with us from Friday through Monday, and then after their first trip to the vet, Allie and Tec came back to us while Clare and Benny went to another foster. 

Left to right: Allie, Clare, Benny, Tec

We have a soft spot in our hearts for kittens who are a little different, which means we truly can't get enough of Allie (whose abnormally short tail is about the size of a cocktail wiener) and Tec, who doesn't have a tail at all. They remind us our Popeye. 

All four are truly delightful - local friends, if you'd like to come meet Allie and Tec, let me know!

* We just couldn't call these adorable little kittens their full, official names, so we immediately gave them all what we thought were cuter nicknames.

Five

My senior('s pawprint). This senior year stuff gets more and more real by the day.

Not my senior, but I wanted a pic of her with
Will's paw. Hopefully he'll agree to take his own
pic with it at some point this year!

Happy weekend, friends!

Mystery Solved

When we go out of town, my friend Jenn usually takes care of Plié and Popeye. We traveled twice this summer, first to Nashville in June and then to Tulsa in July. On one occasion in June, Jenn arrived at the house to find the garage door open after she was sure she had shut it the day prior. The discovery was unnerving, but there were no signs of foul play so we chalked it up to some kind of electrical glitch.

Fast forward a month. Because of the incident in June, this time around Jenn was particularly intentional about not just closing the garage but also not driving away until the door was all the way down and no longer moving. And yet, on one of the days, she arrived to find the garage door open again.

None of us could figure out what was going on, and it was unsettling.

Also unsettling for Jenn (and us) was Plié's relatively new fascination with opening drawers and cabinets. Plié is both incredibly intelligent and ridiculously stubborn, so when she learned that I keep my hair rubber bands - her FAVORITE toy - in a drawer in my bathroom, she figured out how to open that drawer. Every day she goes into that bathroom, jumps on the counter, opens the drawer, scoops out the rubber band she wants (and tosses the rubber bands she doesn't want on the floor), and takes her rubber band with her to the living room or kitchen, where she plays with it for a little while before depositing it in her food dish.

When Plié was no longer satisfied with opening just the rubber band drawer, she started opening other drawers and cabinets in the bathroom...and then she moved on to the kitchen drawers and cabinets. She doesn't seem to be looking for anything in particular (other than the rubber bands); rather it's like she just wants to show off this skill. Whatever her reasoning, it's weird and uncomfortable to walk into your or someone else's kitchen and find drawers and cabinets open, especially when you know they were all closed the last time you left the house.

Fast forward to two weeks ago: Tom and I were laughing about how a specific drawer in the kitchen - the one where we keep our keys and sunglasses - always gets left open, but we never know if it's one of us or Plié who's opened it. 

Almost immediately after that, Will arrived home from soccer practice, "announcing" his arrival with the sound of the garage door. The conversation Tom and I had just finished and the sound of the garage door opening started triggered something in both of our brains. He pondered aloud, "could Plié have opened the garage door?!" at almost the same time I asked, "is there a garage door opener in that drawer?!" We ran to the drawer, and yes, in fact, there is a garage door opener - one that was laying flat with a VERY easy to push button - in the drawer.

Plié had been opening our garage, messing with Jenn and messing with us. We think she might be trying to escape, and if that's the case, it won't be long before she's successful given that she's gotten really close to being able to consistently open actual doors (she's done it accidentally before) by herself...

~

The day after I wrote this post, I pulled into the garage to find Plié waiting for me...in the doorway...with the door open. Will later confirmed that he had not opened the door for her, so it seems she's closer to escape than ever before. 

Mystery solved, adventure loading.