Happy Tuesday!! Last weekend was absolutely beautiful (almost 60° degrees) but NOTHING went as planned so I had myself a bit of a pout and then opened windows and did some spring cleaning and read some good books and knit and had a game night with Abram while Violet and Jesse went to see Violet’s friend perform in a play. Friends warned me that I would enter the stage where 90% of my social life would be made up of attending kids’ activities and we are 100% there.
We also had Abram’s middle school open house last week which has left me all kinds of weepy and wistful which was not to be helped by Violet’s exclamation, “This time next year I’ll be touring high school.” Where did it go? And why does it keep getting faster? And if you know…you know there just aren’t words. It’s…how can something that can feel like such a slog also feel so heartbreakingly brief?
Moving on…
Watching: The Hulu docu-series Hillary – which is definitely a pro Hillary/pro-Clinton doc but got me thinking about how much has changed and how much hasn’t. I don’t know that watching it the same week that we were left with three. old. white. men. as options for President was a good idea, but it certainly beat watching anything that is passing for news. Violet and I are also slowly making it through the Hunger Games. She finished the book series awhile ago and as we stumble on “girl time” we watch the movies. This week we watched the third.
Reading: I finished a couple of books this week. Inside Out by Demi Moore and Catch and Kill by Ronan Farrow. Catch and Kill was such a good read but a real punch to the gut. I’m still boggled at what power looks like in this country. I just picked up Boys and Sex by Peggy Orenstein. Some friends and I discussed this Atlantic article over coffee about a month ago and agreed to read the book. The ones who have read it/are reading it say it’s a hard but enlightening read. Once I’m done reading that, I’m finding a light-hearted bodice ripper (or five).
Knitting: I got almost to the end of the foot on the first sock and realized I didn’t like the length of the leg so ripped it back and started over. I’m currently on the gusset (I loved how all those stitches looked on the inside of the heel flap so I had to take a picture). The yarn is Campfire (I think is the name?) by Must Stash Yarns. It’s sport weight so the knitting is flying which is good because I have a lot of yarn for socks and I wound the yarn for the bobble pillow but haven’t started that yet.
So that’s me. How are things in your world? What are you making, reading, watching, listening to?
The tulips in the vase on the counter in the kitchen are beautiful. Perfectly charming and delightfully spring-like. Oh to dream of such, for it’s rainy here this week and I’m not grooving on it.
In my spare moments I’ve been sorting through things in the basement and in closets and chests of drawers. I am also avoiding people, yet taking our unwanted things to Goodwill, so I’m sort of taking the CDC’s advice to heart. Strange days, indeed.
Strange days is right!! I recently saw a sign that made me laugh “wash your hands like you’ve just sliced jalapeños and need to take our your contacts.” I want it.
Tulip season at the grocery store is my favorite season. I think it helps keep the gray away (at least indoors).
I love a good spring clean! I’ve been tackling closets and cupboards and drawers but I *need* to take on the big storage room in the basement. I’m impressed with your initiative.
I am so freaking grateful to you, Kate, for this completely normal Tuesday Things post. The hysteria that’s going on in the world right now has been incredibly hard to take.
I love the inside of that sock! But to have been almost to the end of the foot . . . argh 🙁 . I’m at the gusset of sock #2 for my youngest son. They’ll be done in time for spring (sigh), so I’m hoping his feet don’t grow too much over the summer. (I’m pretty sure I’m making them to the size of his older brother’s feet, but I was awfully distracted when I began them, so who knows?)
My son just picked courses for Grade 10, so yeah, I know exactly what you mean about time flying by. Will Abram be going to the same middle school as Violet? (Am I remembering correctly—did she go to an alternative school?)
I’m still reading The Woman in White (I’m about halfway done) and have been re-watching Suits, which is kind of a love-hate thing for me. I spent a few hours working on a blog post yesterday, but you know me—it’s highly unlikely I’ll be able to hit publish. I feel like I need to get something tangible done today—I need to scrub something, or organize something, or fix something. That, or I need to get out of the house. Right now it’s dull and rainy, but it’s supposed to clear up later on. A walk by the lake will do me a world of good.
Thank you again for this post, Kate 🙂 .
I needed a normal Tuesday Things post too.
Abram and Violet won’t be going to the same middle school. (I wrote a whole thing about that and then deleted it thinking no one cares. It means a lot that you asked; you’re a good friend.) Abram wants to stay within the smaller Catholic system while Violet switched to the public school. We’re one of a few families in this area that have kids in both systems.
I do hope you’ve gotten a good walk or a good scrub in! As I said above, I’ve been tackling cupboards and closets and it does feel wonderful to see the finished product.
I hope you’ll hit publish. I always appreciate reading your point of view!!
I, too, hope you will hit publish. And I am surprised that you are a watcher of Suits. That does not fit the ideas I have about you–so it is intriguing!
I am watching Better Things on Hulu (thanks to Rita for that gentle reminder that it was on there) but when I am done with that, I am watching Hillary.
It was 60 here over the weekend and there is something about an unexpected lovely day that makes us forget all of our plans. I love that.
I am also in the phase that the majority of my social life is spent in the car driving my youngest everywhere. I’ve been in this phase before as my oldest is now a college sophomore and I know how fleeting it is, so this time I will try and enjoy it more. Oh who am I kidding, I will bitch and moan the entire time. But I will bitch and moan wistfully this time.
Oh Kari, I can’t tell you how much I appreciated the bitch and moan wistfully comment. Glad to know I’m not alone!
Both you and Rita have mentioned Better Things so it is going on my list. I’ll be interested to hear what you think of Hillary once you’ve finished it!
I, too, appreciate a normal Tuesday Things post. I felt a little surge of joy when I saw it in my reader. So much better lunchtime reading for me than…well, just about anything. 🙂
You are entering what I thought of as the driving stage of parenting. I felt my primary task was to drive the car, and I was (at times) rather bitterly resentful at the way the trips couldn’t seem to line up in such a way that I could have enough time between trips to do anything meaningful. So even though the trips didn’t really take my whole day, it felt as if they did. And yet, what I wouldn’t give to have some of those days back now. You really nailed it: “how can something that can feel like such a slog also feel so heartbreakingly brief?” The teen years were definitely where some of my hardest parenting happened, but I feel such tenderness for them and me now, when I look back at that time. I hope you can squeeze all the joy out of it that you can (in between sitting in the car and fielding eye rolls and smelling all the smells–teen boy room smell is a real thing).
I made a trip to the library yesterday and I can’t remember any of the specific titles I found, but I left with books about room styling, cooking, and embroidery. This is my reading equivalent of comfort food, and I can’t wait to fill up on them. We had a beautiful sunny afternoon yesterday, and I mowed the lawn and washed my car and it was wonderful. I am itching to work in the yard and paint some rooms and make things. I am so ready for spring.
Hoping you have a lovely week–