escher (Richard Schilling) is my new favorite artist. I’m delving into his photos on flickr and loving what I see. He is largely inspired by Andy Goldsworthy and has recreated lots of Andy’s work, to learn from it and to see if it could be repeated. But this artist does lots with natural colors from the landscape, shapes, and leaves. I’m a sucker for rainbows of color, so this stuff is perfectly dreamy.
I’m taking the day off work today in honor of my birthday and in acknowledgment of the dire state of our house. We spent the morning cleaning and puttering. Lucas scrubbed the guest bathroom, so it’s safe for you to come over: Nothing grimy will eat you while you’re in there. My bathroom is another story.
At this moment the house is blessedly quiet, except for the hum of the dishwasher and clothes dryer. Asher is sleeping and Ian and Lucas just left for the grocery store. So it’s just me and my LJ. If I’m lucky, I’ll also have a moment to read my new gardening book. Squee! (I believe that’s what the Internet kidz say these days.)
I’m very busy with work … going on about three months now. It’s a super-wonderful-totally-great thing to be busy and earning. I must admit, however, I’m feeling pretty tired from the grind of it. Today is my first whole day off, with no working, in weeks and weeks. It’s frying out my circuits. Still, dear Universe, please don’t misinterpret. I’m delighted to have it. I’ve got big bills to pay; these children are anything but cheap. And some gloomy clouds are gathering on the horizon (state budget woes and how they might affect our household).
Today I get to see some friends and bask in their glory (See Glorious post). I can’t wait. Cosmos for all my merry men and las bonitas chicas! That’s my motto for today. A few darlings are away this weekend and I’ll miss them.
Yesterday I was showered with birthday messages and love. It was fantastic and made even my endocrine system chapter cleanup palatable. My gratitude for the attention and love is immeasurable.
My many boys took me out to dinner at Carmelita’s, where we had decent food and terrific margaritas. Ian’s right: It’s really not worth taking the children out to eat anymore. Which fortunately means more home-cooked, healthy dinners full of loving devotion and unfortunately means I am leaving the house less and less.
I’m making a resolution for my 38th trip around the sun: Build in More Fun.
Happy Birthday, my vivacious beauty! I hope your day is as fun, sparkly, and effervescent as you are! I love you and can’t wait to see you again soon. Party on, Princess!
Dude. I just got a call from my son’s school.
His class is going on a field trip today to a place called Color Me Mine, which is where you can paint ceramics. The kids are painting tiles that will be placed in the second hand-made bench that was auctioned off at the school fundraiser back in March. The bench with inlaid tiles painted by the first graders and crafted by a first-grade father was the highest bid item at the auction. $7,900 for a bench! Well the auctioneer did something tricky that night. He secured an agreement from the losing bidder: The first grade (and the first-grade father who crafted it) would make a second bench if the bidder would match the winning bid. Big bucks for the school!
So the kids are off today to fulfill their part of the bargain by making another set of tiles. I knew that. I signed the permission slip and everything.
The wacky part of this story is this: The call from school was made to inform me that an anonymous donor had paid for limousine transportation for the children for their field trip. No mommies and daddies will be driving them today. Twenty-nine kids and a suitable number of adults are piling into limos right now. Apparently, this is sufficiently atypical that the school administrator wanted the parents to know what was going on.
What a way to end the school year for a bunch of 7-year-olds!
I love my friends. I mean, I love them with all of me. I love them laughing, screaming, sweaty, barfing, sleeping, running, overeating, dieting, hurting, reconfiguring, breaking down, building shit, creating art, high, sick, tired, gambling, pole dancing, frolicking, fucking up, drunk, birthing, waiting, rescuing, yearning, free and caged. In all states of wellness and hurt. In all hours. I can’t help it. They’re in my blood and wed to my spirit. I crave them in all their madness and beauty. They are my angels and the thorns in my side, and I choose not to disentangle, despite the pricks and scratches and grief that sometimes comes from loving so fiercely. They are worth it all. I’m loyal as a spaniel.
Just thought you should know.
OK. We’ve poked around on the Intertangles and have not found the kernel of info that I want to find: What top mulch should I put on my veggie garden? Various websites go into the relative benefits/costs of different mulch material, but there are various obstacles:
I have gained a tiny modicum of experience gardening over the last two summers, but I still have much to learn. I’ve never mulched, really. I think last summer I spread some good compost from a bag I bought at the home improvement store around some of my plants. Did it work? I dunno.
Straw? Is straw the best choice? Where do you buy straw here, in Sacramento?
Argh. I wish I had grown up on a farm. That would make all this stuff second-nature to me.
"The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible." —Oscar Wilde
Paid for yesterday:
Effie Yeaw Nature Detectives camps (2 week-long, mornings-only camps) $180
CSUS Aquatic Center Water camp (1 week-long, all-day camp) $285
Ellen Springwind Art camp: Bookmaking and printmaking (1 week-long, mornings-only camp) $180
Yesterday’s total: $645
Hours of day care arranged for today: 82.5 minus driving time to and from
Other camps I signed Lucas up for:
Soccer camp: $68 (4 days, evenings-only camp)
Fine Arts camp: $73 +$18 materials fee (4 days, mornings-only camp)
Robotics camp: $287 (week-long, all-day till 3:30 p.m.)
Total $446
Hours of day care arranged for previously: 60.5 minus driving time to and from; not sure how much work I’ll get done during soccer camp.
Number of weeks off for summer: 13
Number of weeks sorted out for 1 kid: 6
Total spent so far: $1091
Oy.
Feeling kinda crappy. Rough night last night.
Spent the morning doing the only businessy tasks I like doing: figuring out my invoices and receivables. Well… I guess the businessy thing I like the BEST is depositing checks, but this morning’s tasks come in a close second.
It’s time to buckle down on my med term book. I have to send 17 chapters to production by the first week of June. Yikes. I’m so flippin’ tired.
Very soon I will be 37. 37? Really?
