Kids' Outings, Mother's Day, and The Sick
The last two weeks have been kind of rough for me, because Phil hasn't been able to provide much parenting assistance. First he was gone on business for a week, and then he got a rather horrible case of The Sick that has pretty much knocked out his ability to contribute at home. Despite this, it's been an interesting couple of weeks with lots of new experiences.
While Phil was gone, I tried to get the kids and myself out of the house pretty much every day. I ran errands in downtown (mailing bills! depositing writing checks!). I took them to storytime, something I aspire to every week but often fail at because it's scheduled too early for us (9:30 AM, the horror, the horror). We investigated the new Minneapolis Institute of the Arts family room after exploring the Japanese hall and taking our photo near the Hapsburg exhibit (but not going into the exhibit, because money). It's nice to have a safe, enclosed, new-to-the-kids place where they can run around and play and I can poke at my computer. Will do again. And there was one unfortunate new experience at Midtown Global Market, in which I learned that a child being potty trained at home is not the same as being potty trained when they are running around having fun in new and exciting surroundings.
I had a couple of hours out at the coffee shop on Saturday. Then Phil got sick.
At Butter Bakery for another couple of hours. Getting stuff done! Still really having fun writing the Belizean urban fantasy book, especially since I'm putting in correspondence and fictional documentation and stuff like that. And eidolons.
After single-parenting it last week while Phil was traveling for business, I'm also very very much enjoying not having to take care of my darling children!
Although Phil has been a miserable feverish snot monster, he had to go in to work all this week anyway, because his bosses kindly scheduled all the daylong-and-his-attendance-mandatory meetings for the week after he got back from his business trip. So he had to present and do other things like a normally functioning human might.
We did have fun at the May Day Parade!
Today: went to the May Day parade, picked lilacs from our alley, currently sitting on the porch swing with a window open, working on writing and listening to the rain start. Feels like spring.
And then we had breakfast for dinner (raspberry pancakes) and I got to send Cassius on a rainbow hunt. And he found one.
Phil managed a nice Mother's Day for me, under the circumstances. I got to sleep in in the morning with only minor "but it's Mother's Day!" begging, and I got a nice long nap in the afternoon, too. We went on a family outing to a different Half-Price Bookstore than normal, where I picked up a couple of discount second-hand paperbacks, resisted the not-discounted Hungarian folktales book (not sure I made the right decision there), and nearly bought L. Ron's Invasion Earth decology. I remember enjoying its over-the-top purple prose and ridiculousness when I read it in high school. Tempted to go back for it, even though it was missing books 1 and 3. We had lunch at Potbelly's Sandwiches. The children destroyed our eating area, as normal. Then there was a niiice long nap, followed by salt-crusted steak and grilled asparagus.
Recipe!
I have finally discovered what I consider to be the optimal asparagus preparation method. Melt butter. Add several cloves of minced garlic. Toss asparagus in it. Grill. Delicious. Add residual garlic butter to asparagus and/or meats being grilled.
I'm a little concerned that I am likely to be catching The Sick next. I do not want The Sick. It looks like no fun at all. Cassius has a slightly runny nose but no other signs of The Sick. Theia is so far healthy.
While Phil was gone, I tried to get the kids and myself out of the house pretty much every day. I ran errands in downtown (mailing bills! depositing writing checks!). I took them to storytime, something I aspire to every week but often fail at because it's scheduled too early for us (9:30 AM, the horror, the horror). We investigated the new Minneapolis Institute of the Arts family room after exploring the Japanese hall and taking our photo near the Hapsburg exhibit (but not going into the exhibit, because money). It's nice to have a safe, enclosed, new-to-the-kids place where they can run around and play and I can poke at my computer. Will do again. And there was one unfortunate new experience at Midtown Global Market, in which I learned that a child being potty trained at home is not the same as being potty trained when they are running around having fun in new and exciting surroundings.
I had a couple of hours out at the coffee shop on Saturday. Then Phil got sick.
At Butter Bakery for another couple of hours. Getting stuff done! Still really having fun writing the Belizean urban fantasy book, especially since I'm putting in correspondence and fictional documentation and stuff like that. And eidolons.
After single-parenting it last week while Phil was traveling for business, I'm also very very much enjoying not having to take care of my darling children!
Although Phil has been a miserable feverish snot monster, he had to go in to work all this week anyway, because his bosses kindly scheduled all the daylong-and-his-attendance-mandatory meetings for the week after he got back from his business trip. So he had to present and do other things like a normally functioning human might.
We did have fun at the May Day Parade!
Today: went to the May Day parade, picked lilacs from our alley, currently sitting on the porch swing with a window open, working on writing and listening to the rain start. Feels like spring.
And then we had breakfast for dinner (raspberry pancakes) and I got to send Cassius on a rainbow hunt. And he found one.
Phil managed a nice Mother's Day for me, under the circumstances. I got to sleep in in the morning with only minor "but it's Mother's Day!" begging, and I got a nice long nap in the afternoon, too. We went on a family outing to a different Half-Price Bookstore than normal, where I picked up a couple of discount second-hand paperbacks, resisted the not-discounted Hungarian folktales book (not sure I made the right decision there), and nearly bought L. Ron's Invasion Earth decology. I remember enjoying its over-the-top purple prose and ridiculousness when I read it in high school. Tempted to go back for it, even though it was missing books 1 and 3. We had lunch at Potbelly's Sandwiches. The children destroyed our eating area, as normal. Then there was a niiice long nap, followed by salt-crusted steak and grilled asparagus.
Recipe!
I have finally discovered what I consider to be the optimal asparagus preparation method. Melt butter. Add several cloves of minced garlic. Toss asparagus in it. Grill. Delicious. Add residual garlic butter to asparagus and/or meats being grilled.
I'm a little concerned that I am likely to be catching The Sick next. I do not want The Sick. It looks like no fun at all. Cassius has a slightly runny nose but no other signs of The Sick. Theia is so far healthy.