Woke at 4:15 to the rain pelting the windows and the wind howling. When I let Neko out at 4:30 am it was a balmy 58 degrees. All the snow was nearly gone. Paul called at 6:00 am. His connecting flight from Newark to Manchester at 9:00 pm had already been canceled. He cannot get a flight home until 6:30 tomorrow morning.
I spent the morning cutting over thirty mustaches for Alix's bday party. I'll hot glue them to dowels tomorrow. While cutting I watch the movie, New York, I Love You. This has been in my Netflix queue for months. I'm so glad I finally watched it.
Wind continued to be ferocious. Neko's barking alerts me to the basketball hoop that was knocked over in the driveway across the street. He really doesn't like things that are out of place.
Lucy invited me over for lunch - grilled cheese and tomato soup.
Hair cuts scheduled for Alix and Chance. The road is closed and we have to take a detour. When we arrive the salon has no power. Alix really wants her hair cut before the party so our stylist moves a chair close to the window and trims away. Chance opts to reschedule.
Year to Date Count: books read - 3 loads of laundry -29 movies watched - 7 kid sleep overs - 3 dinners given - 2 dinners attended - 1
While walking Neko, after breakfast, we ran into our neighbor, Jennifer, who accepted our invitation to walk with us and then come back to our house for coffee and conversation.
Paul and I had lunch at Dos Amigos Burritos and then shopping at LL Bean where we scored five pairs of pants and two dress shirts for Paul for less than $120.
Alix came home in the late afternoon and Chance had his friend Jordon sleep over. Paul and I watched Woody Allen's latest movie, To Rome with Love which I won't recommend.
Sunday
Coffee at Jon and Diane's after kidnapping Mesa for a walk with us. Afternoon show at the Capital Center for the Arts as guests of John and Lucy. In gratitude we invited them for dinner. Paul made roasted vegetable and salmon salad and John and Lucy brought venison stew. Joel, joined us as well. Such a fun evening of food, guitar playing and singing, and talking. They also stayed to watch Downton Abbey. So not expected that to have that happen on the show.
Year to Date Count: books read - 2 loads of laundry -25 movies watched - 6 kid sleep overs - 3 dinners given - 2 dinners attended - 1
We had a quiet New Year's Eve. We couldn't think of a movie theme for this year so instead everyone each picked a movie. Chance chose Ted, Mari - Moonrise Kingdom, and Paul - Total Recall. Paul and I skipped watching Ted. We all loved, loved, loved Moonrise Kingdom.
I went up to bed with Neko a little after 11:00. Paul woke me up a few minutes into the new year. Neko chose to continue to sleep. At 1:00 we made the kids turn in.
New Year's Day was cold and very windy. Paul made waffles for Chance and I while the girls slept in. Once the girls finally made their presence downstairs, the crew settled in to watch Alix's choice, the incredibly long, The Dark Knight Rises. I watched the documentary Happy.
Year to date count: loads of laundry: 2, movies watched: 2
These dark gloomy mornings are making it very hard for our family to get up in the morning. Even Paul has been lingering.
I made myself tackle the piles and piles of papers there were overtaking my office. One garbage bag of shredded paper later I could see my workspace. I need to challenge myself to keep it looking this tidy.
By late afternoon the skies brightened and the rain clouds rolled away. The boy donned his soggy bike helmet and pedaled with a friend down to the bike shop to compile the list of replacement parts he wants for his birthday.
For dinner we devoured Paul's spinach quiche with a side of fruit salad. By 8:00, I called for an early "Up to your rooms" for A & C. Paul and I watched the movie Ceremony. I think the only thing I can say about it was it wasn't outright bad and I'm glad we weren't up late watching it.
Paul and I went to our friend's annual wine tasting party. I'm so glad Paul dragged me there. I have been such a hermit lately. I had a wonderful time catching up with friends. After the wine tasting we had a friend for dinner. Paul made his usual dumplings and he also tried this new recipe for Red-Curry Shrimp Dumplings. Oh my, these were amazing! A-MAY-ZING!
(He's always right here when we're cooking.)
The weekend movie was Larry Crowne with Julia Roberts and Tom Hanks. I was looking forward to it. But it was only meh.
Another great recipe a tried this week wasHot and Sour Soup with Tofu.I substituted the shiitake mushrooms for porcini.
This was a mixed up school week. There was only one day this week that both my kids were at school the whole day. Chance came home sick Monday at lunch. Alix was home Tuesday and Wednesday. Thursday was an early release day at 12:00. Hooray for Friday. Seven hours on my own.
These words from Molly touched my heart this week.
I was pleasantly surprised to be mentioned in this post. Thank you Michele.
For the last couple of weeks Chance has been wearing a tie to school once or twice a week. He looks so handsome. (boy this picture reminds me that he asked me to schedule a hair cut.)
Right before dinner we found ourselves childless for the night. That seems to be happening with a little more frequency with Alix and Chance often sleeping over their friends' houses. Of course that also means frequently there are additional kids here on the weekends. It all seems to even out though.
Tonight Paul made his second attempt at California Rolls. They were near perfection. My only suggestion was for him to slice them a little thinner. After dinner we settle in and watched the documentary Food Stamped and then we finished Season 3 of Mad Men.
Food Stamped reinforced our goal to spend less on food. I recently calculated that we average about $1,000 a month. It is going to be a challenge to get that number down since we already rarely eat meat or highly processed foods. Some of the first steps we are taking are not buy cereal. We will happily make Alix and Chance eggs and toast, oatmeal or maypo for breakfast instead. We'll be cutting out Cliff bars, individually packaged cheese, and Stonyfield yogurt drinks. I'm also going to start baking bread again.
I highly recommend this sweet movie. We watched it together as a family. The movie follows the first year of life of four well-loved babies in Namibia, Mongolia, Japan, and the United States. I loved that there was very little dialogue just a wonderful film score. The cultural differences were very interesting; but for the most part babies are babies anywhere in the world.
A friend and I went to our local independent movie theater, Red River Theatre to see Waiting for Superman and to listen to a discussion panel which included:
Jim Forsythe, NH Senator Elect, District 4 Eileen Liponis, Executive Director, NH Public Charter School Association Rick Trombly, Director of Public Policy and Advocacy, NEA-NH Beth McClure, Founder and Principal, Strong Foundations Emma Rous, Chair, House Education Committee, Representative.
I am still formulating my thoughts on the movie. Emotionally it was powerful, shocking, anger inducing, heartbreaking, and moving.
I realize how lucky my family is in having been able to make the educational choices we've made. In the past we have homeschooled and currently C is in a public school and A is in a charter school. I am grateful we've had the opportunity to find a good fit for each of them.
A friend sent me the link to this video: Changing Education Paradigms This animate was adapted from a talk given by Sir Ken Robinson, world-renowned education and creativity expert.
