Beyond the Eats for Thing 1’s birthday

Thing 1 is twenty eight today!
Please join me in wishing my very first girl the happiest birthday!

To celebrate the anniversary of her birth we went Sunday evening to see a guy she’s been watching for over twenty years.

We had VIP tickets which admitted us to a small group Q and A before the live show.

Thing 1 asked what was his favorite episode of Good Eats to make.
He told her, “The House That Dripped Chocolate.”
She said, “Oh my God! That gave me nightmares!”
He got all smiley and said, “Really?”
She confirmed and told him it was so creepy.
Then with the most sincere joy, Alton Brown thanked my daughter.
Y’all, she’s gonna hold that forever!

Alton began his Beyond the Eats show by sharing his ‘culinary regrets’. Telling the true story of his five year old self making s’mores for his family with ex lax chocolate he’d found in his visiting aunt’s belongings.

Audience members were invited onstage to play a food quiz game called Eat This.

Today, Thing 1, Baby K, and I will go to lunch and visit our favorite bookshop before they return home to celebrate with Husband N when he gets home from work.

My girl was born on a dark and stormy night this day twenty eight years ago.
She made me a Momma and for that I’m eternally grateful.

Happy Birthday, Bear!
I love you more than the whole wide world!

Categories: me | Tags: , , , , , | 1 Comment

a tune for Tuesday vol 159

I am all about the vibe this song brings!
Great lyrics.
Blusey riffs.
Molly Hamilton’s breathy vocals.

Everything is simple ’til it’s not
You learned to love the ropes when you were caught
Everything is simple ’til it’s not
Everything is simple

Check out Everything is Simple by Widowspeak and let me know what you think.

Please listen responsibly.

Categories: music | Tags: , , , , | 3 Comments

I feng(ed) the shui

Friday morning I came downstairs and said FUUUUUCK!
Why? you ask.
Well, because the room was perfect.
What now? you ask.

The guy was coming to finish the installation of the automated black out shades. Which meant the sofa, console table behind the sofa, and a jungle’s worth of plants needed to be moved to allow him room to work.
YBW and I didn’t even think of it before we went to bed Thursday night which left it all to me Friday morning.

I mean:

But that damn sofa is heavy to move all by myself.

I was able to push everything away from the window without messing up the rug (go me!) then waited for the guy to arrive.


Sent this pic to YBW, “So we forgot something last night and I’ll be needing your help when you get home.”
I also sent it in the group chat with the girls.
Thing 2: “You funged the shway!! (phonetic spelling, because I’m not gonna try that)”
Me: “Bahahahahaha!”

I feng(ed) the hell out of the shui, y’all.
But it was so worth it.
Check out the light blocking shades.

Now we can watch TV during daylight hours without glare.
In the grand scheme of things, television glare isn’t that serious, but in the Roby scheme of things, it kind of is (that serious).
YBW’s happy because they’re automated and connected to the smart house hub. I actually prefer the app on my phone, I think it works faster.
I’m happy because there’s no more glare if I want to have the TV on while I eat lunch.

We continue making this house our home.
It doesn’t have to be all at once.
Creating a home takes time.
Creating a home takes care.
We’re on it, y’all!

Categories: me | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

would you rather – dix-septième partie

have (legit won) an Olympic Gold Medal or a Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize (for literature, natch…or maybe peace, because why the hell not?)

have a dog that hummed or a cat that whistled
whistling cat
Except for Izzy, who yowled for her own entertainment, every cat I’ve ever had was pretty quiet so I feel confident that there would only be occasional whistling

have one wish granted today or three wishes granted five years from now
I’ll take my wish now please and thank you
not so much because I’m incapable of delaying my gratification, but because one wish would do me

go camping or go to Las Vegas
camping
and however much I excel at it I cannot express to y’all the passion with which I hate to camp

never be able to wear makeup or only wear one color for the rest of your life
Y’all!
I have blonde eyebrows – I need mascara.
and if I could only ever wear blue or green that would work for me…

What about y’all?
What would you rather?

Categories: me | Tags: , , , | 5 Comments

a tune for Tuesday vol 158

I absolutely adore this one!
I love that Hold U a love song applicable to a myriad of different loving relationships.
How many times have we said to or heard from someone we love something along the lines of the chorus?

And I will hold you, I will hold you, oh-oh
I will hold you, I will hold you
And I will hold you, I will hold you, ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh
It’s gonna be alright
It’s gonna be alright

Check out this Indigo De Souza track and let me know what you think.

Please listen responsibly.

Categories: music | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

favorite things 2.16.22

Time for a game of favorites.
I’m looking at favorite junk foods.
Y’all wanna play?

What’s your:
favorite chip
Route 11 Salt N Vinegar

favorite color Starburst
Y E L L O W
in fact I only like the yellow ones

favorite fast food item
McDonald’s french fries

favorite not chocolate candy

Béquet Confections Celtic Sea Salt caramel
good Lord this caramel is so delectable I could cry

favorite way to eat bacon
by the pound
(at first you chuckle but then you begin to think about it and realize I may not be joking)

What about y’all?
What are some of your favorites?

Categories: me | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

a tune for Tuesday vol 157

This is an old one.
Well 2013 isn’t that old, thought it’s nearly ten years since Modern Vampires of the City was released.
Anyway, my love for Vampire Weekend is well known, so it shouldn’t surprise you that
a. I have a Vampire Weekend playlist and
b. I listen to it frequently

I’ve heard this song thousands of times but on the way home from school Thursday last, this line struck a chord in me.

Wisdom’s a gift, but you’d trade it for youth
Age is an honor, it’s still not the truth

It’s hard not love a song that begins: Every time I see you in the world you always step to my girl
This is Step, give it a listen and let me know what you think.

Please listen responsibly.

Categories: music | Tags: , , , , , | 2 Comments

Baby K weekend – February 2022

It’s important (for me) to note that we’re no longer “B-Papa House”. We are now “Birdie-Papa House”.
I’ll admit a teeny bit of sadness. For even when she began to call me Birdie we were still B-Papa House. Those days are no longer, and our grandgirl isn’t really a baby at all anymore.

(not) Baby K’s mom brought her over to our house Friday morning. We were planning to watch the guy install the automated (light-blocking) shades then run to Costco before Thing 1 returned home and Baby K had a nap.
Oh, the best laid plans…
Turns out some of the equipment for the shades was too long and what was meant to take about an hour took several. So we didn’t go over Costco, but we did have lunch together.

Friday evening YBW and I took Baby K to Target.
We went because I needed new markers (for the girl to use) but while we were there we decided to piddledick around and see what was interesting. I mean, it is Target after all.
Did you know if you ask very politely you will be handed all manner of toy/art supply/decor item/ to examine? (follow up question) Did you know if you ask equally politely, each item will be replaced upon the shelf before the next one comes to you in the buggy?
Did you know you can hear an Elsa doll sing ‘Show Yourself’ countless times before you’re ready to put it back on the shelf? Even after Birdie assures you Elsa needs her rest and Papa is ready to be in the Lego aisle.
Did you know that Target has foaming hand sanitizer at the check out and that is VERY exciting?
Did you know that Birdie and Papa will stop on the sidewalk outside of Target for a really really really long time while you look at/point to/have a conversation with (and about) the moon?

A Target run never disappoints.

When we woke on Saturday it was sunny and warm so we decided to go to the playground after breakfast.
Only in the time it took us to have breakfast and get dressed it got cloudy and cooler.
We weren’t dressed quite warmly enough for how windy it became, but we persevered. There were five slides to try, and a rock wall to climb, a ‘dog house’ to howl from and a car to drive.

While Baby K was driving she told us it was time to “Get in you seats. Right here.” while pointing at the steps behind where she stood. YBW and I climbed to structure and sat dutifully on the steps behind her while she drove us around.

Is it just me or does she look like a mom that’s had about enough of our backseat shenanigans?

Sunday morning we woke to snow!
We got all loaded up and buckled in the car and as I began to back out of the garage, the saddest voice you ever heard came from the back seat. “Oh, wanted to go for a walk.”
Well, what could we do but bundle her up as best we could and go for a walk?

Her walk ended with her jumping and splashing in the biggest mud puddle she could find.
All! The! Joy!
Of course then she was wet from her socks to her butt and we had to change her clothes again before getting back in the car.

She ate an entire apple and three cold sausage links in the car on the way home and miraculously stayed awake the whole time, though the last ten minutes was touch and go.

I’m always tired when she goes back home, but I’m always grateful she was here.
Our grandgirl is something else, y’all!

Categories: me | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

a tune for Tuesday vol 156

Ezra Furman’s 2015 album Perpetual Motion People is one of my favorite albums. Nearly perfect from start to finish (the exception for me being Tip of a Match)

My favorite has and will always be Restless Year, but I’ve been paying special attention to this song of late.
I especially love the lines:
Let’s start with your life as you know it/Way back in our mothers’ wombs folded like notebooks
and
The human mind gets sick real easy/The human mind gets way fucking sick of beauty
and
You’ve gotta make it new/You’ve gotta keep it new to keep it true

I’m aware Ezra isn’t for everyone, and that’s cool.
I’ll be over here listening to and loving this unique singer/songwriter.

(author’s note: Ezra recently shared this coming out news)

Please listen responsibly.

Categories: music | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

again and anew

I journaled about Thing 2 visiting before she arrived.
I wrote about my excitement and joy.
I wrote about my desire to learn this newest version of Thing 2.
Who is she? How is she the same as she’s always been? How is she different?
What does she love? What is she passionate about?
To learn as much about this version of her as possible filled me with enthusiasm.
Who has she evolved into as she approaches her twenty-fifth year?

How can I show her I truly see the her she is even though I’ve known her all her life?
How can I honor who she’s grown into while still holding close the memories?
How can I take all the love I have for her and wrap it around the woman she is now?

When I considered these questions I was not feeling at all anxious.
I was feeling curious.
I was feeling excitement.

I had every intention to show my daughter I have evolved.
That I have no preconceived notions of who she is.
That I expect her to grow and evolve.
That I embrace who she’s becoming.

I am not stuck.
I am evolving each day.
I learn new things about myself and my place in the world and figure how to incorporate them into my life.
I learn and grow.
I wanted to give her the chance to experience and learn to love the me I am now.

There were many long years in which we weren’t open with each other. Not being open makes it easier to assume. Not being open impedes growth and understanding.
Not being open kept us stuck in old relationship patterns.

This time I was open.
Both in giving and in receiving.
I was present and paid attention.
It feels to me that she was also.

After our time together I feel as though I truly know her.
Again and anew.
A beautiful feeling with powerful impact and I’m grateful.

Categories: on being a mom | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

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