Ordinary Time

It's one of those life moments that just sneak up on you and feels both like less a deal than you thought, and more a deal. M. is in the process of moving out to her new apartment in the city which she'll be sharing with three other friends. (So, yes, she is feeling much better, though really, really hates the lifting limits.) This was supposed to happen earlier this week, but her appendix had other ideas. All this morning, she has coerced siblings to help her move, carrying things to the van, driving the van, carrying things into her new apartment. I think she plans on being moved in enough to sleep there tonight. It seems we have an official grown-up on our hands. It's weird. And wonderful. And weird. And I'm not quite sure what to make of it all. We are quite blessed that she is really just 25 or minutes away and will see her often. But this is different from moving onto campus, this is really moving out. Weird. I'm not quite sure how this happened....

Tonight is the opening for Thin Ice Theater 's production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. D. is playing Willy Wonka and he is very, very excited about it. (Even better, his grandparents have flown in to see him.) He even got to color his hair purple for the part, though I don't think he ever takes off his hat so that the audience can admire it. Here are some pictures from the dress rehearsal. You can also see some of the red doors that M. created... before the little bout of appendicitis. That was one of the frustrations about the whole thing, was that she was supposed to finish making and painting the set. C'est la vie.

I didn't want to leave anyone hanging. I was able to bring M. home this morning... almost 24 hours later than anyone had hoped. They just couldn't get her pain and nausea under control. It was particularly disappointing last night when she was in a wheelchair, ready to leave, when the nausea  and pain kicked in again and everyone decided that going home wasn't a good idea. But now she's here and doing much better. We'll baby her for a bit before she moves into her apartment. I don't really mind that part at all.

Just in case anyone was feeling as though life here in the Big Ugly House may have been getting a little too dull and predictable, well, we have just the fix for that. Emergency surgery! Yesterday, when M. woke up to get ready for work, she came and told me that her stomach had been hurting badly enough to wake her up in the middle of the night. She was pretty sure it wasn't due to any dairy ingestion because it was hurting down low, across the base of her torso. As any card-carrying worrying mother will tell you, appendix is what first leapt to mind. Since she has been hired by her former university for the summer, I told her that if the pain got worse to go find her father and ask him to drive her to the doctor. I've said words of this sort for so many years to so many children over so many imaginary appendixes, that I didn't really think anything would come of it. Then, as I wrote yesterday, when I arrived home from my little jaunt downtown , J. calls me on the phone...

I spent the morning downtown getting some of our dossier documents all officially sealed so that we can finally submit our dossier to China. Since some of you will never have the pleasure of getting to do this, I thought I would share the process so that you can feel as though, you, too, have been there and done that. Step 1: Gather your documents together and make sure they are all in order and notarized. Make copies of everything. Step 2: Recheck your documents so that you are sure you still have everything because something might have disappeared in the previous five minutes. Step 3: Convince a good friend that she wants to go downtown with you because you want the company and moral support. Step 4: Recheck your documents again and borrow your daughter's Ventra card because you don't take public transportation enough to have one yourself. Step 5: Get up so you can get an early start and not get caught in the Chinese Consulate lunch hour break. Step 6: Remember at...

Last Saturday was the big semi-annual bulk order pick-up day. That means that I and a few friends load ourselves into the largest vehicle we own (we actually all own huge vehicles, so it's whoever can drive) and head southwest of the city for two hours. Then we load between 500 to 1000 pounds of food into the large vehicle, have lunch, and drive back home, stopping at each person's house to schlep their food inside. (Yes, I'm not too humble to say I can carry 50 pound bags of wheat around.) Do we know who to have fun, or what? Actually, it is quite fun. The small town and the highway to get to the small town are hardly designated scenic routes, but we have come to count on our twice a year trips where we have six uninterrupted house to visit with each other. How often do mothers (regardless of the number of children they have) get to have actual conversations with each other without being needed every five to ten minutes? If your life is like mine, not very often. I reall...

What I did today... Got fingerprinted for the 8th time. Stood around the building supply store while M. bought the supplies she needed for her scenic design job. Made people lunch. Cleaned a very messy kitchen. Hung around while the phone guy came to fix our horrible phone/internet service. Again. For the ~8th time in a year. Made the menu for the week and made a grocery list. Took H. to a birthday party. Read many stories to little girls. What I didn't do today... Actually make it to the grocery store (I'll be leaving in a few minutes.) Laundry. Make any plans for dinner tonight. Work on a massive writing project that is due at the end of the month. Write a thoughtful and well-crafted blog post. If you were looking for thoughtful, then I can send you to two articles that were recently published. (Go ahead and click and share... it's one of those writing gigs where the money I get paid increases with the amount of page hits.) Book Review: Att...