Throwing up a few words while Bea naps and my Lean Cuisine "cooks"

1) Looka those two! This weekend was pretty perfect in the way that fall weekends just seem to be. Saturday was rainy and cozy and Harper went to ballet and then bought giant teddy bears with Clay at Costco, Sunday was bright blue and sunny and crisp. We all ran around the yard and kicked a ball in a pseudo soccer game, Bea on Clay's shoulders, laughing hysterically. We did puzzles and ate sushi and BBQ and crunched leaves.

This house is such a delightful weekend house, especially in the fall. It's hard to beat the sunlight and the willows over the pond and the twisting roads through orange leaves. But then it turns to Monday, a winter Monday especially, and I'm belting out "Castle on a Cloud" from Les Mis while Clay worriedly plays the piano for me. Let us just say I get a wee bit...isolated out here. There are major flashbacks to my life at age 11 in a similar town going WHAT IN THE WORLD IS THERE TO DO and eventually just lip synching to Amy Grant. But! I was really just saying this weekend was nice. And also: no house is perfect even if it looks that way on Instagram.

2) Mondays are wonderful because on Mondays all my podcasts turn fresh. Jordan, Jesse, Go! My Brother, My Brother, and Me! This American Life! Start Up! And now Serial, This American Life's new spin-off. Heaven heaven heaven. Who was I before podcasts? A shell of a human, from what I recall.

3) Last night I started work on a new blog for H's school, which I've taken on this year as my volunteer contribution.  They're hoping to use it for outreach when someone expresses interest or if they're Googling around for preschools in the area. My vision quest is to make the school sound inviting and charming, but not intimidating or confusing. No talk about Steiner or other pedagogy, I just want to focus on the homemade apple crisp every Friday and the fact that kids get to climb giant trees. (Er or maybe that's a deterrent?) But damn is it hard to write about all that stuff without sounding smug or insane.

4) Today is a magical sort of day because H got picked up and driven to school (only a Monday thing, as another family drives by here once a week at the right time) and is also getting picked up after school for a play date at her best's house. ("AND YOU WON'T BE THERE, MOM.") Helps a ton with Bea and all her napping needs, as well as giving me a big break from all the back-and-forth school driving, which adds up to an hour everyday. I know, I know -- world's tiniest violin, but when that hour is spent with a cranky baby in tow it adds up. Anyway. I admit to having a hard time saying goodbye to my girl this morning, knowing I wouldn't see her again till 3:00 and picturing her cruising around with other people driving. Am I nuts that the other people driving thing is my most hated part of letting go?

5) I made Clay watch Glengarry Glen Ross with me last night after never having seen it and always wanting to and excuse me? Oh, so very depressing. I thought it would be angry Mamet-y and intense and flashy 80s, but mostly it was full of a million sads. Must clear my palate with podcasts. Mmm podcasts.