(no subject)
Jim and I went to look at a house yesterday in Byram Township. We left feeling way excited. It's in our price range, has three bedrooms (!), a full, finished basement, and an already framed out attic that we could easily convert into a master bedroom. It's on a small, but decent sized lot, carved into the back of a mountain. Eventually, we'd grade and tier the back, but for right now there's enough room to garden some raised beds, and there's a burn pit, too! All that excitement left us combing the internet for car port plans and potential spiral staircases of the mod variety for when we cut a hole in the living room ceiling to, ya know, build that attic bedroom.
We've been together for over a year now, Jim and I, and everything is so easy. He's like my old hoodie. It's holey, sloppy, pinned together on the cuffs with safety pins, glaringly inappropriate, but it's soft and comfy and indispensably essential to my everyday wardrobe. Yup, that's my boyfriend: a sloppy, comfy, essential part of our every day. The question is coming. There's been a lot of talk about rings, like how do I feel about the traditional (I don't, so please don't, okay?), and Kaleb going to kindergarten and he being settled into his new home before September comes. I'll say yes. Just in case you were wondering.
I finished up the fall semester, minus one drop, but still successfully managed to pull off four courses. The day after x-mess I started the winter semester, which means that four days from today, the day after my 35th birthday, I will finally be a bonafide college graduate. I started this journey, it seems like eons ago. Too many times I almost quit. I suppose I'm glad I didn't. I'm not diggin' the massive loan debt, and honestly, it all feels anti-climatic at this point. But I did it and it's done!
I loved our tree this year more than any other tree I've put up as an adult. It was far bigger than I had intended to buy, but they had few small ones and I was pressed for time. We decorated it together, eating pizza, and when it was done we popped corn and snuggled under the blankets, the three of us, to watch a movie.
Jim and I rang in the New Year with a dinner party for seven. I roasted vegetables in the farm kitchen for hours and grilled fennel and smashed red skinned potatoes while Jim fancied up a folding table with taped together brown bags and odds and ends of assorted mismatched silverware and place settings. At one point I looked over at him, his pants hanging down over his big ass, struggling with a roll of scotch tape and a mound of paper bags from the market and smiled and laughed at all his dishelvedness and his pure heart and his sweet soul. He grilled steaks and cooked the lobsters. We built a fire in the wood burning stove and we fed our friends and we drank red wine and we toasted each other with glasses of champagne. The boys cleaned up from dinner. The girls didn't. As it got close to midnight we headed over across the street to Rich and Leah's for an all out dance party. In the morning I used the leftovers to make us steak & onion omelets with cheese and crispy potato pancakes. We drank Hair of the Dog mimosas, ate fresh melon, and stayed under blankets, cuddled up, watching Easy Rider and reading books. New Years Day night, I threw together a huge pot of pasta in a pink sauce with broccoli, left over lobster and tons of crushed red pepper. We fed the house and sat around with a bottle of red wine talking about the year. So 2006. 2006 was a wondrous year of growth and self-discovery. It was also a year of great loss, the year where I lost my best friend to drugs. But loss makes you love harder, and so ultimately, 2006 was a year full of living and loving with lots and lots of laughter. Gratitude.
It was a good weekend filled with playdates. We went to Gina's on Saturday and potlucked it. The kids were wild and underfoot, building obstacle courses and being banshees. We stayed until it was too late and then we headed home where we read books and sang new songs and old standards. Which led, the next morning, to the downloading of Don't Take Your Guns to Town and an endless, repetitive loop of repeat while Kaleb memorized the words to heart. Last night, after we eye-candied the house, we drove across the bridge to Pennsylvania and saw Tristan and Life and Kerri. We ate pizza and salad, drank wine and beer, caught up while the boys played.
2007 brings a new baby to the family. My brother and sister in law are expecting! I'll be an auntie and Kabe will finally have a first cousin to take under his wing. They call it The Colonel, cuz they're weird like that. No word yet if it's a boy or a girl. It also means I'm turning smack dab mid-thirties. And I'll be mama to a kindergartner. Double Wow. It's the first year in many outside the classroom. Resumes, cover letters, job prospects. Ugh. But! It brings an entire year of reading for the pure pleasure of plain reading. 2007 definitely brings a move to a new town. Maybe even into that rad house we looked at. Who knows?! 2006 brought me so much love, laughter, and learning. I'm excited to see what the next 365 have in store. Undoubtedly, I'm sure beer and wine will be involved.
We've been together for over a year now, Jim and I, and everything is so easy. He's like my old hoodie. It's holey, sloppy, pinned together on the cuffs with safety pins, glaringly inappropriate, but it's soft and comfy and indispensably essential to my everyday wardrobe. Yup, that's my boyfriend: a sloppy, comfy, essential part of our every day. The question is coming. There's been a lot of talk about rings, like how do I feel about the traditional (I don't, so please don't, okay?), and Kaleb going to kindergarten and he being settled into his new home before September comes. I'll say yes. Just in case you were wondering.
I finished up the fall semester, minus one drop, but still successfully managed to pull off four courses. The day after x-mess I started the winter semester, which means that four days from today, the day after my 35th birthday, I will finally be a bonafide college graduate. I started this journey, it seems like eons ago. Too many times I almost quit. I suppose I'm glad I didn't. I'm not diggin' the massive loan debt, and honestly, it all feels anti-climatic at this point. But I did it and it's done!
I loved our tree this year more than any other tree I've put up as an adult. It was far bigger than I had intended to buy, but they had few small ones and I was pressed for time. We decorated it together, eating pizza, and when it was done we popped corn and snuggled under the blankets, the three of us, to watch a movie.
Jim and I rang in the New Year with a dinner party for seven. I roasted vegetables in the farm kitchen for hours and grilled fennel and smashed red skinned potatoes while Jim fancied up a folding table with taped together brown bags and odds and ends of assorted mismatched silverware and place settings. At one point I looked over at him, his pants hanging down over his big ass, struggling with a roll of scotch tape and a mound of paper bags from the market and smiled and laughed at all his dishelvedness and his pure heart and his sweet soul. He grilled steaks and cooked the lobsters. We built a fire in the wood burning stove and we fed our friends and we drank red wine and we toasted each other with glasses of champagne. The boys cleaned up from dinner. The girls didn't. As it got close to midnight we headed over across the street to Rich and Leah's for an all out dance party. In the morning I used the leftovers to make us steak & onion omelets with cheese and crispy potato pancakes. We drank Hair of the Dog mimosas, ate fresh melon, and stayed under blankets, cuddled up, watching Easy Rider and reading books. New Years Day night, I threw together a huge pot of pasta in a pink sauce with broccoli, left over lobster and tons of crushed red pepper. We fed the house and sat around with a bottle of red wine talking about the year. So 2006. 2006 was a wondrous year of growth and self-discovery. It was also a year of great loss, the year where I lost my best friend to drugs. But loss makes you love harder, and so ultimately, 2006 was a year full of living and loving with lots and lots of laughter. Gratitude.
It was a good weekend filled with playdates. We went to Gina's on Saturday and potlucked it. The kids were wild and underfoot, building obstacle courses and being banshees. We stayed until it was too late and then we headed home where we read books and sang new songs and old standards. Which led, the next morning, to the downloading of Don't Take Your Guns to Town and an endless, repetitive loop of repeat while Kaleb memorized the words to heart. Last night, after we eye-candied the house, we drove across the bridge to Pennsylvania and saw Tristan and Life and Kerri. We ate pizza and salad, drank wine and beer, caught up while the boys played.
2007 brings a new baby to the family. My brother and sister in law are expecting! I'll be an auntie and Kabe will finally have a first cousin to take under his wing. They call it The Colonel, cuz they're weird like that. No word yet if it's a boy or a girl. It also means I'm turning smack dab mid-thirties. And I'll be mama to a kindergartner. Double Wow. It's the first year in many outside the classroom. Resumes, cover letters, job prospects. Ugh. But! It brings an entire year of reading for the pure pleasure of plain reading. 2007 definitely brings a move to a new town. Maybe even into that rad house we looked at. Who knows?! 2006 brought me so much love, laughter, and learning. I'm excited to see what the next 365 have in store. Undoubtedly, I'm sure beer and wine will be involved.
