domestic bliss
this morning we went out for a walk: my daughter, her best little girlfriend, myself and my son (in the stroller). first we went to the garden and picked a whole bucket-full of tomatoes, watered the tomatoes and picked a few weeds, tossed a few rotten tomatoes out into the desert; then we went to the playground - as soon as Nicky had the swingset in his sights he started cheering, "Yay! Yaaaaay!" and clapping while bouncing up and down in his stroller. He was ecstatic. Of course I was more than pleased to get him into the swing immediately - where he happily clapped and cheered some more as I pushed him. Chrissy enjoyed the swings as well. Zoe, a little less pleasant (as usual) complained about the heat, the grass, the texture of the pavement and whined that SHE wanted to go on the baby swing (even though she is 4 years old and way too big for the baby swing). *sigh* But MY children were fantastic! I am so proud of them. I am so proud to be their mother. It gives me such unequalled joy to watch them smile and hear their laughter - to observe them playing and learning every day. I love them so much!
So as we were walking back home from the playground, heading inside for lunch, I had what has now become one of my most recurrent thoughts: that I am so fortunate - so blessed - that I have so much to be grateful for and just looking around this beautiful place where we live is enough to make me feel good inside - then I get the extra bonus of two gorgeous children who adore me, love each other and are healthy and happy and smart, to boot! Wow. What more could a girl want? (Well, sure, there's more, but I have it pretty damn good, here!)
So, there's this kid, who is the son of one of J's ex-girlfriends (short relationship) - and he's really a great kid - we had him over for dinner about a month ago - anyway - great kid - so he called tonight - asked J for money - which, in and of itself didn't even bother me - at all - but here's the sad part - he wanted some money so he could get some school supplies. His idiot mother is so wrapped up in her own screw-ups that she actually TOLD her own teenage son that he'd have to find a way to buy his OWN school stuff this year. He gets no clothes, no paper, pens, pencils, backpack, notebooks - NOTHING from her. It makes me sick. J didn't want to commit to anything when he was on the phone with him tonight - without talking to me first - but, we invited him over Saturday - for a swim and a nice dinner - and what we'll do then is let him know that we're going to take him to Target and get him whatever he needs there to get him started for the school year. It's his Junior year in high school - it will mean a lot if he does well in school - and part of that is having the STUFF he needs for classes - so I'm not at all opposed to doing this for the kid. I'm just so appalled that his mother is so disinterested. I guess it's not that uncommon - I just had such great, involved parents growing up that it seems so surreal to me what this poor kid is going through. My heart was aching last time he was here - because I could see it in his eyes - how much he craved family - how desperately he wanted to be a part of a family and have that closeness and to have 2 grownups interested in him and his life was so great to him - he stayed for hours and talked to us - took a walk with us after dinner. My heart was just breaking for him. So, we're definitely going to help him out.
Friday night we're having one of J's colleagues over for dinner. I'm going to make pork tenderloin on the grill - the jury's still out on side dishes - but I'm considering some baked stuffed tomatoes (because my 'maters from the garden are just so amazing - big, red, plump - tasty!) - and maybe just a salad - I'm gonna have to consult a few back issues of Gourmet and give it some more thought.
We didn't eat dinner tonight - just fed the kids. I'm so hungry. All this food talk is making me hungrier! It's too late to eat, though. Oh, I'm sooooooo looking forward to Martini Grille on the 28th.
Wow, I really feel for those people in Florida - Punta Gorda - I guess that's the place that got hit the hardest - wow - It's really sad. I'm watching a report on the Weather Channel now.
I am so tired.
So as we were walking back home from the playground, heading inside for lunch, I had what has now become one of my most recurrent thoughts: that I am so fortunate - so blessed - that I have so much to be grateful for and just looking around this beautiful place where we live is enough to make me feel good inside - then I get the extra bonus of two gorgeous children who adore me, love each other and are healthy and happy and smart, to boot! Wow. What more could a girl want? (Well, sure, there's more, but I have it pretty damn good, here!)
So, there's this kid, who is the son of one of J's ex-girlfriends (short relationship) - and he's really a great kid - we had him over for dinner about a month ago - anyway - great kid - so he called tonight - asked J for money - which, in and of itself didn't even bother me - at all - but here's the sad part - he wanted some money so he could get some school supplies. His idiot mother is so wrapped up in her own screw-ups that she actually TOLD her own teenage son that he'd have to find a way to buy his OWN school stuff this year. He gets no clothes, no paper, pens, pencils, backpack, notebooks - NOTHING from her. It makes me sick. J didn't want to commit to anything when he was on the phone with him tonight - without talking to me first - but, we invited him over Saturday - for a swim and a nice dinner - and what we'll do then is let him know that we're going to take him to Target and get him whatever he needs there to get him started for the school year. It's his Junior year in high school - it will mean a lot if he does well in school - and part of that is having the STUFF he needs for classes - so I'm not at all opposed to doing this for the kid. I'm just so appalled that his mother is so disinterested. I guess it's not that uncommon - I just had such great, involved parents growing up that it seems so surreal to me what this poor kid is going through. My heart was aching last time he was here - because I could see it in his eyes - how much he craved family - how desperately he wanted to be a part of a family and have that closeness and to have 2 grownups interested in him and his life was so great to him - he stayed for hours and talked to us - took a walk with us after dinner. My heart was just breaking for him. So, we're definitely going to help him out.
Friday night we're having one of J's colleagues over for dinner. I'm going to make pork tenderloin on the grill - the jury's still out on side dishes - but I'm considering some baked stuffed tomatoes (because my 'maters from the garden are just so amazing - big, red, plump - tasty!) - and maybe just a salad - I'm gonna have to consult a few back issues of Gourmet and give it some more thought.
We didn't eat dinner tonight - just fed the kids. I'm so hungry. All this food talk is making me hungrier! It's too late to eat, though. Oh, I'm sooooooo looking forward to Martini Grille on the 28th.
Wow, I really feel for those people in Florida - Punta Gorda - I guess that's the place that got hit the hardest - wow - It's really sad. I'm watching a report on the Weather Channel now.
I am so tired.