Weekly Recap + what we ate: Opening Night, and April Reflections.

Another show opened! Yay! Now we are open, and I have a week of performances and meetings and cleaning up before I close out opera season. It feels like space has opened up in my life, but it is May which means a lot of life/ family/kid things are happening this month.

This weekend was probably busier than it should have been for me, given that it’s been a little non-stop at work. I should have taken time to gather my forces and refocused on what I need to do on the life admin/home front. On Thursday, my one official day off, I ran errands with a friend, went on a walk with another, took the two older kids to be “Mystery Readers” at the 5 year old’s classroom, took the 8 year old to soccer… it seemed like a lot for a free day when I really just needed to sleep or stare at the wall.

On Saturday, I decided to take the kids to a local street festival. We all biked there, which was really fun. Usually I walk while the two little kids bike and scooter (the 13 year old was on a service project with friends), but this time the kids said I should bike too, and it worked out better than I thought. The 5 year old is a dervish on the scooter and being on a bike, I could finally keep up with her. There’s something really fun about an excursion with the family where all of us are rolling on wheels. My goal is to get the 5 year old off her training wheels this summer.

The street festival has valet bike parking, which was really great. So we biked/scootered to the festival and left our bikes with the bike valet – so convenient. The place was super crowded and at first I remembered why I don’t often go to these festivals – there were so many people; I was supposed to meet up with friends, but I couldn’t find them; the inflatable activities weren’t being monitored and it was open season – chaos and even dangerous as balls and foam arrows flew around. I was actually pretty miserable for the first 30 minutes. But then I managed to pull the kids away from the inflatables/flying objects “fun” zone and we walked down the street and found a children’s musician singing songs about nocturnal animals. We sat in the shade, ate our snacks and listened to music, and I began to decide that I was having fun after all.

We walked on down the road, checking out some displays by various county organizations and found a mountain biking group – they had set up a little course and were letting kids try out mountain bikes. The 8 year old wanted to try and he ended up spending twenty minutes there, riding the same course of two little speed bumps over and over. He’s due for a new bike this spring – he is still using a hand me down purple and turquoise bike with broken pedals, which I think is a testament to how much he loves being on his bike – so afterwards I talked to the people running the mountain biking booth, and they said to get him a mountain bike because he can do whatever he wants on a mountain bike. The group also does youth mountain biking rides with a “no one left behind” philosophy – I’m excited to check it out further for the 8 year old. (And maybe the rest of the family…?)

Afterwards the mountain biking, we stopped at the truck touch, and I did end up running into some friends and having some great catch up time. So in the end, I’m really glad I took the two little kids to the street festival. I think I just have to remind myself to try to find the not so crowded places to be. One thing I thought was cool was they had “sensory friendly” tents where you could sit in a comfy chair with a pair of earmuffs on when things got to be too much. i thought that was such a great idea at an event that could be overwhelming.

That evening, the 13 year old and I got dressed up and went to the Gala Concert at my work. Her favorite opera singer was singing, so I thought it would be fun for her to go. We went with some friends, and it was nice to just go and watch a show without having to work on it at all.

Sunday I took the 5 year old to Agility Class and then came home, turned around twice and then went to work for the Sunday matinee performance. It’s nice that the show is so short because I have time to come home and still have a bit of time to re-set for the week.

I’ve been trying to lean into the idea of a “Sunday reset” to get me ready for the week ahead. So far my Sunday Reset list involves:
-Putting away the floordrobe and all the clothes on the bench in the bedroom.
-taking a shower. For me and the kids.
-planning my clothes for the week.
-boiling eggs for the week so I have easy breakfast. (I can’t find my silicone egg holder for the InstantPot so I’ve been boiling eggs on the stove and they don’t turn out as well. Suggestions welcome.)
-Tidying the living room and my desk. (usually one or the other, but I would love for it to be both.)
-exercise
-Cleaning out the backpack bins by the door
-Bluey with the family. Or Andor.
I would like to also add:
-dealing with the mail bin.
-clipping the kids’ nails. I always forget to do this until their nails are too long. I think if I had a set time to clip nails, it would be better.
-Getting the kids activity bags set so I don’t have to think about it later in the week.
-clean out my purse – it gets so full of receipts over the week.

I’m also wondering where the line is between Sunday routine and Sunday Reset. Maybe one is a flashy internet term and one is just … life. Because I would also like to find time on Sunday to be outside, to write on my blog, to connect with friends. But that doesn’t feel like it’s in the “get ready for the upcoming week.” category. Am I overthinking this? Also where is the line between over thinking and acting mindfully?

April Recap/ Reflections
April was definitely consumed by work work work work. I started prep for a show on March 31st and we had our final dress rehearsal on April 30th.

April highlights:
-finished our taxes on time. Finished the 13 year old’s taxes. (She got paid for the show that she was in last December. It was a 1099 and we claimed her voice lessons as an expense against it, so she ended up operated at a loss last year.)

-rehearsing, teching, and opening a show. It’s been one of the smoothest show processes I’ve ever had. It helps that it’s a remount of an existing production, and the show is short. Even still, everyone was lovely to work with, which is really important.

-“Ask Me Anything” session for the Production Assistants with the Staging Staff at work. So may words of wisdom and practical considerations to pass along to the next generation of people in the arts.

-March Madness. Yes, it says March, but it finished in April. We watched some really exciting games together as a family. I’m not a huge basketball fan, but it’s fun to see the Husband and 13 year old really get into something together.

-My mother and Uncle’s visit. Taking them down to the Mall and walking amongst the monuments.

-The weather – Spring has sprung. Sunshine, warm air. We’ve moved past cherry blossoms into tulips.

-Running – I ran 7 times last month, which is the most I’ve run since November. Getting to run along the Potomac on my dinner break is always great for views. I love that the path I take to run takes me across a bridge over the river, and from that end, I can look back and see my work place all lit up, and it seems so far away – it makes me feel like I accomplished something on my run, even though it’s really only a little more than a mile away.

-Continuing my daily yoga. Some days I squeaked it in with a 10 minutes video before bed, but most days I did 15-20 minutes in the morning.

-Lenten reading group. Such a great group of ladies with whom to contemplate life.

-Take your child to work day. I did not participate – my work hadn’t organized anything, but the Husband took all three kids to work, and they all had a great time. His work place goes all out for TYCW day, with lots of crafts, riding busses, scavenger hunts (one of the items is “Photocopy your hand”)

-figured out the 8 year old’s soccer team. He’s having such a good time being out on the pitch again.

-Easter service with the Bangla musicians.

-we finally got window treatments! It’s a little plain, but better than the mismatched curtains that I had before. I was so delighted by the top down/bottom up mechanism that I spent a good fifteen minutes after they were installed putting the shades up and down. The plainness of the shades do open up the wall on either side, and now I feel like I need art for the wall.

April Lowlights:

  • The Federal Government blood bath continues and it is very much hitting home. I’m trying not to think about it, but almost every conversation I have with friends starts with a ginger, “How are you doing?” because I just don’t know if people still have their jobs or not.
  • Not having a lot of time at home, leaving a lot of the burden of parenting with the Husband. Tech is hard on everyone.
  • Dropping a lot of balls in life admin.
  • Taking the corner into the parking lot poorly and putting a sizable dent in the car. AGH!
  • The house desperately needs a declutter, but I haven’t had time or energy to do it. I’m so tired of not being able to find things or constantly stepping on papers and toys and half done projects.
  • Owing money on taxes. This is to be expected now, but ouf. I’m going yo try to pay quarterly taxes this year, to make April less painful, but it might all be a wash.
  • The death of the Pope. What a humble, wise, kind, and beautiful person. The passing of public figures don’t usually hit me that hard, but the death of Pope Francis brought a real sense of loss.

April Insights- two insights, one practical and one philosophical:

-Practical- and this is super weedy stage management stuff, just warning you – Getting my cues in my book before we hit tech makes life so much easier during tech week. Okay, this seems obvious, but I struggle with this one. One thing I’m trying to work on with my own personal journey as a stage manager, is working ahead when I can. I often wait to put cues in my book because I think, “What if things change?” But you know what? They can’t change all 150 cues. So I should do what I can and move the Post It as I need to. For this show, I had the stage manager’s book from the last time they did this show, and that even gave me time to type my light cues onto labels for my own book. I’ve always kind of raised my eyebrows at people who type their cue labels, thinking it’s a lot of work for something, and kind of fussy. But OMG! how clean and pretty does it look to have all the cues typed?

This is the opening number – this is the most cues I have on one page, but the first twelve minutes of the show is a wild ride indeed. I basically just keep my head down, keep calling cues, counting measures, and am thankful that the lightboard operator is good at her job and keeps up with me.

I had hemmed and hawed about typing my labels because I like my light cues to be in a diamond shape and I couldn’t figure out how to print the labels in the right orientation to make them diamond shaped. I procrastinate for a week, thinking I would be able to figure it out. But then I decided, if the choice is between hand writing all 150+ light cues on the exact right shape label vs. typing them on not quite the right shape …. well typing them is so much faster. So I said to myself, “Diane, stop being ridiculous. Done is better than perfect. Stop waiting for the perfect solution to hit you on the head. You’ve been staring at this for a week now. Just do it the slightly different way and get it done.”

– The Philosophical – At our AMA with our Production Assistants, one of them asked us what is the best advice we’ve ever been given, and one of my co-workers said something that stuck with me. She said that Gavin Creel, a musical theatre star who passed away last year, said something that really stuck with her – (And forgive me if I’m not saying it correctly or paraphrasing it badly – I can’t find internet transcript of his exact words) He said that life isn’t a ladder to climb; it’s a lily pond. We are all on our own lily pads, and sometimes you jump from one lily pad to a bigger one, and sometimes you jump from a bigger one to a smaller one. And sometimes you jump onto a lily pad that sinks and sometimes you jump on to a lily pad that floats away and takes you somewhere unexpected and wonderful. I think this is such a beautiful metaphor because we live in a world that is obsessed with climbing the corporate (or what ever) ladder, but we have to realize that life is not all about climbing up. It’s about finding the lily pad where you want to be, and also about being willing to jump to a different lily pad when the time is right.

Cool Blogger’s Walking Club. Big thank you to Elisabeth for inspiring and highlighting daily movement. Some walks this week: walk on the trail near the 8 year old’s school, and grateful for a bench in the shade. Run at work on my dinner break, with blue skies and cool sculptures and architecture. Walk around the plaza at work on the day when I didn’t quite have time to go for a run. Walk to the Farmer’s market near work, where I got a pineapple ginger paleta (so refreshing, a bracing blend of sweet and spicy), and admired the front yard sculpture exhibit the neighborhood is sponsoring. A date to Costco with a friend (I’m counting this! We walked, and we got out of the house.). A walk on our nearby trail with a friend, catching up. A walk around the block one evening after work with the family, watching the kids collect leaves and run ahead of us, a perfect post dinner Sunday evening activity for Summer.

I was initially hesitant to declare participation because I knew I was going into a busy month, but you know what? It is more doable than I anticipated. I was motivated to find those ten minute chunks, late at night, on my meal break, etc. And it also gave me an excuse to try to cajole my family along with me. I think there was one day the first week of April where I didn’t get out and walk/run/bike, but I probably could have squeezed in something. Sometimes it takes planning, but also sometimes it’s about realizing when you have a bit of empty space. Not that we have to fill up all the empty space in our lives, but I’ve realized that going for a walk is still a form of having empty space – it gives me time to think, or not think, to breathe, and work out a bit of restlessness. Ultimately, though, there is no failure here. We do what we can do.

Grateful For:

-The above mentioned chance for the 13 and 8 year olds to be Mystery Readers for the 5 year old’s class. Before we went, the 8 year old said that he was nervous, but he did a great job! He read Pigs to the Rescue and The Giving Tree. The 13 year old read Daddy Daughter Day and 100 Dragons Named Broccoli.

-the box of tempation at work:

It is filled with chocolate:

-Everyone at work who does such a great job to make the show look and sound so good.

-Parent coaches. Despite what I wrote last week about the fight between the two coaches at the 8 year old’s soccer game, I really believe parent coaches are doing amazing work. I watched the 8 year old’s practice last Thursday. Herding a bunch of 2nd graders seems like an exercise in frustration, but Coach Greg kept it together and managed everything so well.

-Carpools. The thirteen year old had a full day of activities on Saturday, and I didn’t have to drive her to anything thanks to carpools.

-That I still have a job. It seems like every week, there is a new round of layoffs at work.

-Zhong zi, and my mother for bringing them. When my mother was visiting in mid April she brought a whole bag of zhong zi. These are sticky rice balls, filled with meat and mushrooms and wrapped in bamboo leaves. They are one of my favorite Taiwanese foods. One day when the fridge was pretty bare since we’ve been behind in the shopping, I needed a quick lunch and found the bag of zhong zi. I steamed them up and we had them for lunch and it was the perfect low fuss meal.

-comfortable shoes. That match the carpet at work. A wonderful thing on days when I am on my feet all day.

-Other things that make tech week go well: lunch boxes and ice packs, the Husband, a comfortable bed, water bottles, the ginormous chocolate chip cookies from the canteen at work, monitors and a strong conductor’s down beat.

Looking Forward To:

-The 13 year old’s middle school musical. Opens this week. I’m really excited to see it.

-My parents are coming for a visit. They very rarely come see us together, so this feels kind of special.

-May! What a month. We have lots going on this month – the 5 year old is FINALLY getting baptized. The 8 year old has first communion. The weather is turning the corner from Spring into Summer. Farmer’s markets. Piano recitals. Voice recitals. Happy Hour and lunches with friends.

-Watching Season two of Andor as a family. Well, actually, watching season one of Andor as a family. I haven’t even seen the first season. I hear it’s really really really really really good.

-Reading this book, not sure what it’s about yet, but I find myself nodding along with a lot of its shrewd and cutting observations. And the chapters are short so it flies by.

What We Ate:
Monday: Lamb stew, from the freezer. Thank you again, past me.

Tuesday: Taco Tuesday. The Husband made chicken tacos

Wednesday: I had empanadas from the Farmer’s market since I was at work. This is the best part of being at work on Wednesday. I think the Husband made some kind of sausage skillet for the rest of the family.

Thursday: Dinner out with friends.

Friday: I had leftovers at work for an early dinner then went out with the stage managers after the show and had a truly decadent dinner – scallops, risotto, kale salad, fancy guava soda made from scratch, peanut butter pie for dessert. The Husband and kids had pizza (take out) and watched Smoky and the Bandit. (Which I have never seen myself.)

Saturday: Kitchen sink chopped cabbage salad with chicken. I was kind of at a loss for what to make, so I took a bunch of sad vegetables from the fridge (cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, cabbage, red onion, avocado), chopped it up, added walnuts, olive oil, salt, pepper, and red wine vinegar. Threw in some shredded chicken and… dinner! It was tastier than it ought to have been given the despair I felt when I first opened the fridge.

Sunday: Egg/ Breakfast sandwiches. The Husband cooked because I was at work. I think I had toast and yogurt when I got home.

Hope you have a lovely week.
Do you have a Sunday reset? How was your April? What does May look like for you? What do you make for dinner when you are looking in despair at the fridge at 5pm?

Weekly recap + what we ate: Good-bye February, Hello, March!!

I’m posting this later in the week than usual, and we’re firmly into March. February seemed really short to me this year. It’s only two/three days shorter than other months, but for some reason the month felt as if it was gone in a flash. I think this probably had a lot to do with the three days I was sick – that’s practically a whole week there.

This last week of February had some fun things:

Last minute gig: On Friday, I got a call to stage manage an event on the next Monday. It was a strange call because I knew the theatre and the stage managers are usually booked at least a month in advance. Turns out it was the producer that was hiring me, not the theatre. Oh well, sure, I’ll take your money! The event was a concert put on by the Kuwaiti embassy, and as these things tend to be, it was a little chaotic but full of heart. Stage managing events isn’t my favorite thing – I like a rehearsal process and getting to know people and creating the product together. But the money for events is generally good and people are often really glad you’re there. And you know – it’s partly feels like the stakes are high because you only have one chance to get things right. At the same time, the stakes feel pretty low because you only have to do it once, often with minimal/no rehearsal. So there’s a lot of “by the seat of your pants”ing and it is exciting in a way.

I work in this theatre and with this crew a lot, and it’s one of my favorite places to work, so that was definitely a fun part of the gig. Also, I learned so much about flag protocol on this assignment – the US Flag must be to the right of the flag of a foreign nation, and the foreign nation’s flag can’t be larger than the U.S. Flag – this caused a flurry of activity backstage when the Kuwaiti embassy folks showed up with a flag and asked if we could provide an American flag. It turned out fine in the end, but I’m sure glad the crew knew all the rules. Also if you are playing more than one national anthem, the Star Spangled Banner is played last. All the rules and what not are so fascinating to me. And now I know – whenever I work and embassy event, on of the first things to ask is, “Will you be bringing a flag for onstage? And how big is it?”

The concert was lovely, and featured a mix of American and Kuwaiti music. There was a local orchestra who played alongside several musicians from Kuwait playing instruments that I had never seen before but which I found so interesting to hear. All in all, not a bad day’s work.

Drumline Showcase! Friday night we went to the High School Drumline Showcase. It was at our local high school and featured the drumlines of eight (I think) high schools in our district. It was amazing. Also very loud. So much showmanship and musicianship. Drumline was not something I was aware of when I was in high school, so this was a fascinating glimpse for me. The Husband did marching band when he was in high school, and afterwards he was telling me all about the drumline hierarchy.

…. and then the lights went out. This part was a lot of fun.

The concert felt like a glimpse into my future as a high school parent. I went to a magnet high school that was twenty miles away from home, so I wasn’t really involved in any high school activities or groups. There was such a sense of community at the drumline showcase – it seemed everyone had friends there – we even ran into our former neighbors – it made me realize that a huge part of high school is the community you build for your family and for your kids. Where we are, there are several options for high schools kids can go to – there is the one you are districted for, but then there students can also apply for programs at different high schools as well. I can’t believe that next fall we’ll be having our first go around of high school choice with the 13 year old – I believe applications are due end of October. Right now she wants to go to our districted high school because it has a strong theatre program and also a lot of her friends might end up there as well. I am anticipating a lot of stress this October as we figure out this high school stuff. Choice is good, but also choice means choosing which can be stressful.

Painting Pottery with Friends – My good friend K and I had a date last weekend at one of those paint your own pottery places. I had never been to one before and it had actually never crossed my mind as an activity for a girls’ afternoon. K invited her friend W, whom I had hung out with a couple times in the past, and we had such a good time. Pottery painting was a good combination of creative and relaxing. I tend to resist activities that leave me with a tangible item to take home because I always think, Oh what am I going to do with this? But the pottery place had some very functional pieces and I chose to paint a flower pot for the Husband. I can’t wait to see how it all turns out when it is fired. Afterwards we went out for an early dinner and it was just such a lovely afternoon all in all.

February highlights: So now we’re into March. Two months down in 2025. Ten more to go! Some of the good things that happened in February:

-Visiting the Duck Decoy Museum.

-Celebrating the Husband’s Birthday at one of his favorite restaurants.

-On the work front – finishing hiring stage management staff for next season. (Well mostly. There is a hiring freeze right now so we technically can’t hire some people, but we have asked them to hold the dates for us.); doing supertitles for a lovely voice recital; the last minute concert for the Kuwaiti embassy.

-The 13 year old finally having her birthday party. Six girls at our house for a sleepover and waffles and the newest Marvel movie the next morning.

-The kids’ continuing to thrive in their activities. The 8 year old is taking a goaltending clinic. I was surprised because I didn’t think it would be his thing, but he says playing goalie is “chill. Until it’s not.” The 5 year old did a session of gymnastics. Previously I signed her up for the tumbling and trampoline class because quite frankly, the gymnastics equipment scares me – so much opportunity for injury. This time I signed her up for the class where they rotate equipment and she’s really taken to the balance beam. They both are continuing with skating, which has been fun to watch. The 13 year old is all basketball all the time, but she also is in the ensemble for the middle school musical – I’m really proud of how she’s pursuing both interests.

-Super Bowl Party with good friends and good food.

-Daily Yoga. Except for the day that I was sick, I managed to do at least 10 minutes, often 20 minutes of yoga every morning. I didn’t start the year intending to have a yoga streak, but it’s been a nice part of my morning to know that I’ll do some yoga in the morning.

-Blogg-y community fun: 1) Elisabeth’s FJIG Collective, such a heartwarming and encouraging effort from around the internet for finding good things in life, and 2) Engie’s Cool Blogger’s Book Club reading The Blue Castle together – a wild and quaint book that sparked some really fun discussions on her blog.

-Watching the kids get along. Mostly. I feel like the two little kids are at a magical age (5 and 8) where they really enjoy playing with each other. Most mornings I can just do my thing and they’ll play nerf guns or some other pretend game or read to one another. It’s really sweet. I do worry that the 13 year old feels left out of that dynamic sometimes, but you know what, if she would bother to emerge from her room and take her headphones off, I’m sure her siblings would welcome her into their games. The kids do collectively call themselves the “Kids Club”, which I love.

February lowlights:

-Sick Days. For me, for the 13 year old. Ugh, just ugh. We’re both better now, but the gunk and cough is still lingering, and we can’t seem to shake it.

-The 13 year old didn’t get the part she wanted in the school musical. She was really upset to be “just ensemble”, and that’s tricky to navigate with her. It’s all fine and I think she is now having a good time, but it was kind of a sad day when the cast list went up.

-Scrolling. I had one day when I went on Facebook to try to get some information and then went down a kind of sad rabbit hole. I’m not active on social media; I had quit Facebook about two years ago – that day in October when the site went down, and I took it as a sign. I’ll still check it once in a while for information – like seeing if a store I like is open, or if there’s some activity going on that I want to go to. But even then, I’m just checking individual FB pages and not looking at my own feed. Welp, I made the mistake one day of clicking on my feed while checking something, and I got sucked into scrolling and reading other people’s news. One of the reasons I got off FB in the first place was because I never felt happy or uplifted or connected by it. I always just felt anxious or jealous. Anxious because it seemed like my groups – which, granted, were mostly parenting groups – were full of people’s anxieties. Anxieties about screen time, about how to keep their kids warm, about feeling judged… I know these groups are often for people to find sounding boards for issues, and I see the value in that, but I often found I was taking on other people’s anxieties and I didn’t like that. Then the other part is that I would often feel jealous because a lot of the people I’m FB friends with are work colleagues and it’s just hard for me to see what other amazing work/shows/projects people are working on because it always seems amazing (Yes, I know that’s the point of posting it on social media). I have a degree of insecurity about how good I am at my job and when i see people working on amazing projects it kind of affects my self confidence and makes me feel small. So anyhow… that FB black hole I went down that one day in February- it didn’t land me in a happy place. I just felt kind of listless afterwards. So now I know for sure that I should not be on FB or any kind of social media because it messes with my head.

-The new political administration. I find myself avoiding writing publicly about the new administration because it feels… odd, maybe even rash. It might be fine. It might not. But my work happens to be connected somewhat with a federal institution and I like my job and want to keep it, so I’m being cautious on what I write about the whole situation.
I can’t pretend that nothing is happening, but I also recognize that some things would be imprudent for me to say on the internet. But here is a super superficial thing. I am selfishly angry that all my friends at the bus stop have been ordered back to in person work and are scrambling to find childcare and I don’t get to have my bus stop chit chat. Talking to my friends at the bus stop is one of the high points of my day. Of course there are the friends that no longer have jobs, so I guess I’ll be having more chit chats with them.
Okay in the scheme of things, my bus stop social is the least consequential thing that the upheaval in Washington is disrupting right now. There is so much uncertainty and confusion in the air. And fear and sadness. And anger. I want everything to be okay in the end. So I guess we’re not yet at the end. Oh well. I keep telling myself that at least I’m not stuck in a war torn foreign country with no idea how I’m going to get back home. In the big picture, my work upheaval probably isn’t that big of a deal. Malthus’s hierarchy of needs and all that. But it has been a stressful anxious time for sure.

February 29th – Things I wonder – So here’s a fun thing from my five year journal. Since I don’t use the February 29th page every year, I’ve taken to using that page to write down some of the things I’m pondering at the time. I call it the “Things I wonder” page. Last week, being the last week of February, I was re-reading the February 29th entries and it made for an interesting time capsule – here’s some of it:
2021: How will I know to get the [COVID] vaccine? Will [the oldest] do okay in school? When should I send the two little kids back to daycare? When will I go back to work? Do I even want to go back to work?

2022: What is going on in the Ukraine? How can I connect more with [oldest child]? When will it feel like the pandemic is over? Am I going to get better at the “stepping up” part of my job? Is there a way to do this [opera] without exhausting the Husband ?

2023: Will [the two little kids] be as hard as [the oldest]? Do I want to stop stage managing? Am I just better suited to being an Assistant Stage Manager? Can we afford life? When will the war in Ukraine end? How can I be a better roommate?

2024 was a leap year, so I don’t have an “Things I wonder” page. It’s interesting what questions get answered and what questions don’t, what questions I am still asking myself and what questions I don’t ask anymore.

Grateful For: It is technically the end of Elisabeth’s month of FIG collecting, but I’ve always listed my gratitudes every week in my posts, and I’ll continue to do so.

-The 8 year old, who has never really taken to school saying one morning as we walked up the path to school, “You know, I’m starting to like school.” Who knows if it will last, but there’s a glimmer.

-The road crew that fixes the potholes. There have been so many potholes popping up in the main street by us. I try to avoid them, but am not always successful. Hooray for the road crew that is filling them – rather quickly too, I’m surprised by the speed at which the County has been dispatching road crews.

-On that note of municipal services – public trash cans. How amazing to be walking down the street eating an orange and not have to think about where I’m going to put the orange peel until I get home. I can just throw it away in this trash can on the street!

-Clean crisp sheets and sliding between them after a long day.

-The smell of dinner cooking as I walk in the front door.

-Our backyard. It’s not a big backyard, but it’s our own space outside. On Sunday, after we came home from the 8 year old’s goaltending clinic, he wanted to play more soccer, so we kicked the ball around in the backyard. I remember during COVID how grateful I was to have a backyard to get out of the house and enjoy sunshine and air. I’m still grateful for this space – not just for me, but also to have a space where I can safely send the kids out of the house to run off some energy.

-Our friend W, who picked up the 8 year old from school and watched the kids when I had that last minute gig.

-The County Rec Centers. The rec center near us has an indoor walking track and a fitness room, all of which county residents can use for free. I haven’t used the exercise room yet, but I met up with a friend to walk around the track one rainy morning and I was really grateful that the County was making membership free to residents again this year. Last year I kept telling myself I’d take advantage of the free membership, but I never did. I’m going to do better this year.

-Mangos. Specifically Kent mangos, ripened to just the right softness and sweetness. Eating in the middle of winter, they are like a tropical island in my hand.

-Taking the Metro to and from work and not waiting more than three minutes for a train. Also – I put my metro card on my phone and every time I tap my phone to enter the turnstile, I’m amazed how seamless it is. No more fumbling for my wallet or my card.

-The warmer weather and bikes and park time after daycare pick up. Serendipitously running into friends at the playground.

-Middle school sports and the teachers who coach them. The 13 year old’s middle school basketball season came to a close. I managed to make it to half of the final game. Her games are at the same time as when I have to pick up the 8 year old from the bus stop, so usually the Husband has gone to the games. But he couldn’t go to that last game so I managed to go to the first half of her game and see her play for the first time. I’m so glad that the 13 year old had an opportunity to play on her school team.

-Middle school teachers and administrators in general. Not going to lie – walking through the halls of the the middle school to go to the 13 year old’s game was intimidating. All those pre-teens – loud, mysterious, moody, full of opinions – it was scary. And I didn’t have to interact with them. God Bless those who have made it their life’s work to help guide kids at this oh so tricky stage.

Looking Forward To:
-The Secret Garden at the high school. Marsha Norman and Lucy Simon’s The Secret Garden is one of my favorite musicals ever. I’m so excited to see it. Will the kids love it? Will they be bored? Who knows? Who cares?

-A relatively open March. My last month without rehearsals.

-Day Trip to meet up with a friend. We’re going to meet up at the Duck Decoy Museum because it’s half way between us. I’m actually pretty excited about this because I didn’t get to see the whole thing thoroughly when the family was there in February.

-Just started this book – it’s been on my radar for a while, so when I found a copy at our Library used bookstore I snatched it up immediately – Engie and Julie gave it high praise, so I moved it up my TBR, and am liking it so far:

-Also – It’s March! A new month! A new stack of Magazines to read on Libby. I LOVE magazines and when I discovered I could read the via Libby it was like angels singing. Reading magazines on Libby isn’t as nice as reading them in paper, but on Libby I can get magazines from all over the world, so it’s a trade off:

My current magazine cue…

What We Ate:

Monday: I had a salad from the canteen at work. Our friend W who came to watch the kids brought them chickens sausage and potatoe soup.

Tuesday: Taco Tuesday! Korean Pork Tacos from Dinner Illustrated. Still working on eating that 6lb cabbage.

Wednesday: Italian Wedding Soup with Turkey Meatballs from NY Times Cooking. This was a pretty simple soup and came together pretty quickly because I made the meatballs ahead of time over the weekend.

Thursday: Tikil Gomen, Misir Wot, and injera. This was the same cabbage, carrot and potato dish that I made last week. This time I also made misir wot (red lentils) to go with it. For the misir wot, I used mostly this recipe from the Washington Post, but I made it in the Instant Pot so that I could make it in the morning and then leave it. Surprisingly the kids really liked the lentils and didn’t care for the tikil gomen. (Even though it was the exact same cabbage dish that they had loved eating LAST WEEK!!!)

Friday: Pizza (take out). No movie this week because we were going to see the drumline showcase.

Saturday: My friends and I went out to eat after pottery paining. We went to a really tasty Mexican restaurant. I had Enchiladas (served with cactus!) and we split a delicious flan for dessert.

Sunday: Dumplings from the freezer, and whatever other leftovers we could scrounge up.

How was your February? What extracurriculars did you do in high school? What have you been wondering about lately?