My Real Life

Officially, I’m not done with school yet, as I have two days of training on Monday and Tuesday and graduation on Tuesday night.

However, the kids are done, and even though it’s the weekend, we are already beginning to slide into our summer mode, which I call “Summer Slow.”

Last summer was the first summer I didn’t work since I was in high school, as the cost of putting four kids in a camp outweighed any paycheck I might have earned in the summer.

So, we tightened up the checkbook and made it through.

And we made it through in summer slow mode.

What is summer slow?

It’s a mug of tea on the deck in the morning while Tiny walks around inspecting cicada carcassas, watching the squirrels and chipmunks, starting to play with the outdoor toys.

It’s an impromptu morning walk with the monkeys when they are all up, with no destination in mind and nowhere in particular to rush home to get to.

“Summer Slow” is alternating between playing H.O.R.S.E. and basketball and hockey and badminton with the boys and reading/lifting my head every two seconds for a “Mom! Watch this!”

It’s getting chores done in my own time because my window to get them done has just expanded considerably beyond the 48 hours of weekend I am used to.

It’s going into our Netflix queue and ordering the first two discs of Little House on the Prairie, Season One for our regular summer viewing of the series.

“Summer Slow” is heading to the library to stock up on kids books about summer for Tiny and chapter books for the big kids for a little bit of quiet time at the end of the day.

It’s farmer’s markets, baking from scratch, watermelon dripping from chins.

It’s lemonade and sidewalk chalk and sweaty heads and droopy eyes and a feeling of peace and simplicity.

I love Summer Slow and the monkeys and I have been waiting for these days when we can slow down and just “be.”

It’s time.

Today I’m sharing the blog Mommy Shorts.

Ilana writes a blog that always makes me smile.

I enjoy Mommy Shorts because she has fun contests like The Most Epic Head of Baby Hair.

I enjoy Mommy Shorts because she finds nonsense and shares it with us like The 5 Most Inappropriate Children’s Books.

I just enjoy the blog, and I think you will, too.

I’m embroiled in school work both during and after school, this week, as we prepare for graduation, the end of the marking period, final grades, yearbook signing party, etc.

Nothing outside of the norm, but my brain is focused on task completion and my creativity has flown the coop.

So, I thought it would be a good idea to share with you some other blogs, this week.

Blogs that either make me laugh or ground me when I’m feeling like I am this week.

Today, I am sharing Beauty that Moves.

I have shared this blog before, but I think it deserves a second look (or first if you haven’t yet taken my advice).

Heather writes a blog that always makes me feel calm and centered.

Her photos are beautiful and I love reading about the natural way she is living her life.

She homeschools her daughter, eats natural foods, and lives an amazing, simple life.

This is a blog that I read every day, but especially appreciate in a week like this.

It’s like a big sigh that releases all of your tension.

So, please check her out.  You won’t be sorry.

Yes, I realize that today you are being inundated with photos of other people’s Dads, but I would suggest that you stick with me today because I’ve got some pretty cute pics to share.

I’m an only child of two only children, so growing up, it was me and my Dad and my Mom.

All the time.

Just us.

I had great friends and spent a lot of time with those friends, but friends go on vacation and friends have to go home when the streetlights come on, so the majority of my time was spent with my parents.

These are my parents:

I’m not sure if I was born loving the same things as my parents or if I came to like those things because I had no other option, but however it happened, we spent a lot of time with books and games.

Apparently, we also spent a lot of time taking pictures of each other (probably with my Kodak Disc camera) looking at each other.

Cuz, what else were gonna do?

My Dad worked a lot when I was a kid.

He was a minister and decided to also become a pastoral psychotherapist, so he went back to school while working full-time and then, when he graduated, worked two jobs full-time, if you can even imagine that.

So, my Dad made the time he spent with me count.

We would hit the local bookstore a few nights a week and we’d browse and he’d always, always buy me a book or two, and if I brought a friend along (which I usually did) he’d buy them a book, too.

We would go to football games and baseball games.

We’d listen to the music of the 50’s and 60’s as loud as it could possibly go in the car.

We’d see every movie that came out and talk about it for days afterward.

We’d read favorite lines out of books to each other.

He’d throw me in the waves at the ocean again and again and again and again.

So, today, I say Happy Father’s Day to my Dad.

A really, really good man.

A little crazy…

…but a good man.

I have four children.

I have been a teacher for 19 years.

It goes without saying that I have attended more than my, heck, more than anyone’s, fair share of school events over the years.

They all blend together – the concerts, the art shows, the book fairs, the science fairs.

I have memories of my kids participation, but, for the most part, you seen one, you seen ’em all.

Until yesterday.

Monkey in the Middle is in third grade, and yesterday his class created a “Wax Museum.”

Each student researched a famous person, wrote a biography and then adopted their persona, complete with costume.

I walked into the gym and the third graders were lined up against the walls, with a second circle of them in the center of the gym.

Next to each child was a music stand on which sat the biography they had written, as well as an index card with a red button on it labeled “Push Me.”

I was one of the first parents to walk into the gym and that gym was was silent.

All of these 9 year olds were standing, perfectly still, in a variety of poses, appropriate to their persona.

I scanned the gym, found Monkey in the Middle and headed over.

I pressed the “button” and immediately he straightened and began to speak.

“My name is Neil Armstrong…” and then went into a lovely biography of the man.

When he was done, he said, “Thank you,” and returned to his original position, awaiting the next person to come and hear his story.

I went to child after child and they all did the same thing.

I loved it.

They all had a bit of a different twist, but they were fantastic.

I met Neil Armstrong, Jackie Robinson, Nelson Mandela, Coretta Scott King, Gloria Estefan, Steve Jobs, Sacajawea, Elvis Presley, and the list goes on and on.

A gym full of nine year olds, quite frankly, can be a scary thing.

This gym full of nine year olds was absolutely surprising and delightful.

And, imagine…me…the mother of an astronaut.

So, today is Crazy Hair Day and for once, there was no drama.

We have a Fred Flintstone wig from a costume party Real Man and I went to years ago and he was perfectly happy to wear it.

I wish we had thought of this a few years ago.

It would have saved us a LOT of angst.

You can read about the Crazy Hair day of the past here.

Ah…New York City.

If it was possible to marry a place (and if I wasn’t already married to Real Man) I would absolutely marry New York City.

There’s just something about it that brings you back time and time again.

And, for me, part of that draw are my besties (yep, I said ‘besties’ like I’m 14) Kim, Erin and Michaela.

It’s been a long time since the 4 of us were together.

Kim’s wedding back in December, to be exact.

Too long.

So, on Saturday morning, I packed up and headed into NYC.

Erin and I rode in together and when we got there, we headed to Kim’s apartment, dropped our stuff off and then the three of us headed for Bloomingdale’s.

At Bloomingdale’s on Lexington Avenue, they have a restaurant named “40 Carrots.”

40 Carrots has the best fruit salad with a scoop of cottage cheese I have ever eaten.

Kim reminded me, in the cab, that I could probably make my own fruit salad with a scoop of cottage cheese, but then I reminded her that some things taste SO much better when someone else makes them for you.

She had to agree.

Weirdest thing, though.

When we got to 40 Carrots, someone was there reading my book!

So crazy!  Look at how she’s laughing at the hilarity.  She clearly thinks this would be an excellent summer read.

After lunch, we did some browsing through the store.

Then, we started to hit some vintage shops throughout the city.  We were everywhere.

SoHo, uptown, downtown, everywhere.

And, listen to this!

In one of the vintage shops, there was another woman reading my book!

See how she ponders the essay she is reading?  It seems to me as she is thinking what a wonderful shower gift this book would make.

It gets weirder.

We went into a pet shop, because who can resist the lure of the squealing, excited little puppies, and wouldn’t you know it?

A woman was reading the chihuahua puppies MY BOOK!  It lulled those little ones right to sleep!

Must have been the melodic way the prose is written.

So, clearly, this is a book that would be perfect for your nightstand, as well.

(Just click the Amazon link on the right hand side of this page and this book can be yours, too!)

After Bloomie’s and vintage shopping, the girls indulged me in the store Paper Source where I finally found a journal.

I’ve been looking for next year’s journal everywhere.  Normally I purchase my journals in the gift shop of the National Gallery on the 8th grade trip to DC but this year, the selection was slim pickins.

So, when I found two that I like in Paper Source, I bought them both.

We headed up to Columbus Avenue and met Michaela at Cafe Frida for dinner.

Yep.

People reading the book there, too.

Whose essay were they reading?  I don’t know, but it looks juicy.  You should probably buy the book to find out.

We ate, we relaxed, we talked, we laughed.

It was exactly what this girl needed.

After dinner, we headed to Sugar and Plumm.

Erin and Kim ordered a brownie a’la mode to share.

I was thinking “Ha! Rookies,” and said snarkily to the waitress, “I’ll have a brownie a’la mode just for ME.”

Then it arrived and I wasn’t feeling so snarky any more.

Michaela said it made her teeth hurt just to look at it.

I concur.

I managed about half of it and it was delish, but that was all I could manage.

We headed back to Kim’s, chatted for awhile, Michaela headed back to her apartment and Kim, Erin and I fell fast asleep.

Because I’m like a trained seal, at 5:45 am, I woke up, but there was no way I was getting out of bed to catch the 6:11 train, so I lay there for just a little while longer, enjoying the knowledge that no one was going to ask me to make them breakfast or need a diaper change or ask me to referee a fight about Wii remotes.

And then I started missing everyone at home, so I got out of bed, got dressed, whispered goodbyes and headed for Penn Station.

I love that city and I love those girls.

I am one lucky chica.

To say I had a busy weekend would be a gross understatement.

I ran from place to place to place and am only just now getting my feet back under me.

The good news is that everything I had to do this weekend was wonderful.

Book Signing

On Friday night, I had a book signing at Bobby’s News and Gifts in Boonton, NJ.

Here you see Amy from Funny is Family, Nicole from Nicole Leigh Shaw, Tyop Artist, Kim from Let Me Start by Saying, and…well, me.

The rain was torrential, so the turnout wasn’t quite what we had hoped, but the people who showed were awesome and very much appreciated.

We signed books, we chatted, we laughed, we read, I sang, there was wine, there was cheese, there was an amazing store in which I wanted to buy every single thing I saw.

Kim wrote a great wrap-up of the evening here.  I encourage you to check it out, particularly because she links you to Bobby’s News and Gifts and Vino, the store that provided the wine for the evening.

Early Saturday morning, I headed into NYC with Kim, Erin and Michaela, but I’ll tell you all about that trip tomorrow.

Family Picnic

On Sunday, I took the early train home from the city to get back for the family picnic for Real Man’s side of the family.

Every year, same weekend, same park, same people, same fun.

It is, without a doubt, Monkey in the Middle’s favorite day of the entire year because he gets to play outside with his cousins, non-stop, all day long.

They play every sport and game imaginable.

We go for short hikes.

We grill.

There is an adults vs kids kickball game.

(We made Tiny prepare the field)

The evening is topped off by s’mores.

Seriously.  It’s hard to beat.

We had special guests this year.

The cicadas.

For my readers in parts of the country/world who don’t get to experience the rise of the cicadas every 17 years, here’s just a small taste of what they sound like:

It’s kinda sorta totally awesome.

I’m one of the few who think their arrival is nothing short of miraculous and am in awe of the “cicada story.”

Anyway, sometimes you spend a busy weekend and you finish it up and your head is spinning and you are thinking “Ugh…I spent the whole damn weekend running around and never got to relax.”

And sometimes you spend a busy weekend and you finish it up and your head is spinning and you are thinking “Best. Weekend. Ever.”

Yeah, this was one of those.