Category: make me smile

  • Make me smile…

    –I’m not sure which earned the bigger smile today, turning in my final paper of the quarter/school year, or the delightful cup of tea & cherry/almond scone I enjoyed afterwards…

    –typing on my computer with ellycat draped over my arms like she is right now. One hand around her front legs and the other under her belly. and elly’s little motor is purring up a storm.

    –up till midnite last night (typing said paper) and watching elly nibble bits of salmon off of Emma’s unfinished dinner plate. breaking off bits and then hiding under the table to eat them. sneaking around so I won’t “see” her.

    –going to the beach in the early morning with the family yesterday. watching the incoming tide bowl over the kids and they both go under and emerge sputtering and laughing/crying. me, not wearing my computerized prosthesis, daring to go into the surf myself. the waves threatening to carry my crutches with the undertow. the water as warm as a bath. the call of the ocean beckoning me in even further. the promise I made to myself to reutrn soon and follow that call…

    –vacuuming. Yep, my favorite household chore. I could vacuum all day long…

  • oh-so-french


    french vanilla, french-cut green beans, french fries, french hotels, french pastries, french metro, french toast, french water, french cheese, french tea, french lace, french kitty, french film, french surnames, french bookstores, french chocolate (esp when served by sexy Brazilian men on the Rue Cler) and, of course, french kisses!
    OoLaLa!

  • Make me smile…

    –your delight at my gluing/crafting skills…it’s nice to know that I’m a Mom who can deftly build a diorama of just about any scene from early California history with stuff in the recycling bin.

    –going to bed when it’s too hot to sleep under the comforter and you still don’t mind that I drape myself over you. Because it’s the only way I can sleep well.

    –the thought of C giving M a bouquet of flowers in a school play this morning. Knowing how badly his cool 6th-grader self didn’t want to give such a gift to a girl, yet he also had to ‘play the part.’

    –getting a personally blended ‘pure-fume’ from the Aveda store for my birthday. And then slathering it on my arms and shoulders and smelling pretty all day long.

    –watering my porch plants with my new red pitcher. Knowing every drop of water that trickles from its spout is just that much better because I have a great receptacle to water with.

    –buying John’s Father’s Day present. Hint: it has tentacles. :)

  • for a day w/out fresh peaches

    1) Trader Joe’s peach halves bottled in grape juice
    2) Cinnamon and nutmeg
    3) Slice of yesterday’s honey-sweetened cornbread
    4) Two mini-scoops of Double Rainbow Vanilla ice cream

    Put 2 peach halves in small bowl and shake spices on top. Break cornbread into chunks over peaches. Drizzle grape juice from peach jar over cornbread. Microwave for 2 min. Scoop ice cream on top.

    Eat with a spoon while you are sitting in the sun on the back porch. Make sure your neighbors don’t see you as you are licking the bowl clean.

  • just about as good as sex

    –hunting for a pen in the space behind the parking brake–that space where random car objects live–and finding a dark chocolate bar, 73% cocoa content, with a label that reads “Sexy”

    –wearing sandals. little white strappy sandals with tissue-thin soles. for the first time in 21 years. the air moving over my instep making my foot feel mustang-convertible cool.

    –taking my 5 min daily lay-in-bed-naked-after-my-shower moment and have Toby lay down next to me, purring up a storm. doze for a moment and wake up with toby napping at my ear and ellycat draped over my foot.

    –biking home at 11 pm after my AROOM group discusses A Midwife’s Tale. speeding down the hills that were so arduous on my way to group. walking in the door to greet John with cheeks flushed and heart pumping hard. wanting nothing more than to get back on the bike and go for another few miles.

  • thickly spread

    A few days ago Rich wrote…
    Jana,
    I dare you to try my favorite: Orowheat wheatberry toast, ripe avocado thickly spread over it, and drizzled with clover honey. To die for!

    Rich,
    Thank you for the dare. You were oh-so-right! The sweetness of the honey was perfectly paired with the creaminess of the avo and the crunchiness of the toast (not orowheat, but a Trader Joe’s imitation). I’m thinking that this treat could only be better if the bread were homebaked, and it was a heel slice where the crust was perfectly crisp and the center of the bread still steaming. And the honey was gathered by Trappist monks on Huntsville, Utah. And I was sitting under a tree on a warm afternoon and after I finished my sublime repast I had time to relax (perhaps take a short nap) to contemplate how much I enjoyed what I had just eaten.

    But in the meantime, I’m settling for near-perfection and I’m headed to the Farmer’s Market for a few more avocadoes tomorrow. :)

  • Make me smile…

    Ride bikes with me to the University Center. Where we stop by our favorite bookstore and C&E spend their monthly book allowance as the owner chats with them about which books they’ve read lately. Then go in Trader Joe’s and buy some snacks for the weekend and a few necessities (milk, blueberries, goat-milk yogurt). Riding home we pass the kids’ art teacher walking to yoga class. Smile and hear her admiration that we ride our bikes to the store. Let E lead the bike brigade and watch her making good choices about crossing busy intersections. Arrive home out of breath, but happy. And see the newest pink rosebuds and double impatiens blooming on the porch and the clematis vine that has recently ‘woken up’ and is starting to climb the wall.
    :)

  • deja vu…in the rain

    It was almost dark by the time John got my bike home tonite (he’d had to ride it home from the shop where I bought it in Newport Beach).

    But despite the gloaming and the rain, the kids and I went out for a bike ride (John joined us on foot, because his bike was at his office).

    We decided that the large mostly-empty parking lot across the street would be the best place to ride together, with it being so rainy and almost-dark. It was great fun doing donuts around the streetlights, zooming up and down the slight hill in the middle of the lot, racing each other from one end to the other (a long ways–the parking lot is almost a block long).

    It wasn’t until we were returning inside that I remembered that this was the same parking lot that I had paced back and forth in during the hours that I was in labor with C so many years ago. The contractions coming unevenly, the constant walking to both ease the pain and to initiate labor (he was a week overdue).

    Back then I couldn’t have imagined myself zipping around on a bicycle with my two pre-teen kiddoes in tow. But that night, like tonite, was so full of promise, of joy, of surrender. It made me so grateful for then…for now…and for what amazing adventures the future holds for our family.
    [Note: both kids had a wet mud streak up their backs after our ride. Me, I was spared such. Granny bikes don’t leave backtracks. :)]

  • Make me smile…

    –John and C are in the next room over, where C is having a lesson from his Dad on how to tie a tie. They are giggling and working through the process together (while looking at a diagram of different knots)

    –All of this is in preparation for C’s ordination today. At 12 years of age Mormon boys go through a rite that is somewhat akin to a bar mitzvah. C will be called up to the front of the church meeting and be asked to recite an Article of Faith from memory. He will officially graduate from the Children’s Meeting (Primary), and after church he will be ordained to the introductory level of the LDS Aaronic priesthood by John.

    I’ll post a picture soon :)

  • funny

    Ok, maybe you shouldn’t watch this if you’re embarrassed to be giggling in your cubicle. But if you need a good chuckle, check this out–especially the March 24th entry on “How to Kill a Ninja” (I suspect that chudacek will find it particularly amusing).

  • Make me smile…

    –turning in grades yesterday. whew. another quarter of school all done. ate 2 do-si-dos and did some high-fives with the kiddoes to celebrate.

    –a blank page on my calendar today. still lots of stuff to do, but no classes, no appts, no meetings. woohoo!

    –crocheting. about 10 years ago my friend Mindy taught me how to crochet and since then I’ve made many crocheted items, but I’ve never learned how to read & follow a pattern. Thanks to the Happy Hooker I’m about halfway through my first follow-a-pattern project.

    –the sun is shining today, small birds are twittering on my front porch, I’m sipping hot tea w/milk, and the day stretches ahead of me with all of the joy and promise of a grassy field filled with wildflowers.
    :)

  • Just what I needed this morning….

    Yah, a long week at our house. It’s finals week at UCI and we’ve had papers to grade and deadlines to meet and busy kids Oh, and I must tell you E was crowned with the title of ‘Master Artist’ this week by our elementary school district. Her duties will include a presentation before the school board and the city council. And she says it’s okay if her class didn’t kowtow to her (as we did when we learned of her new title), instead they clapped…

    But back to this morning. I was busily getting dressed in our bedroom and John was headed into the shower. He was completely naked and singing along with the “Jesus Christ Superstar” songs that were playing over the speakers under our bed. He was gently swinging his hips, eyes half-closed as he sang the refrain from Simon the Zealot’s song:

    Jesus I am with you.
    Touch me, touch me, Jesus.
    Jesus I am on your side.
    Kiss me, kiss me, Jesus.

    It was both touching and hilariously funny and even a little ridiculous. It was so John–all vulnerable and yet totally living in the moment, surrendering to the music. Totally un-selfconscious. Lovely….