Spring is Sprung

Spring break this year was spent out of state, visiting with my dotter and g’son. We had some excellent adventures together, making memories to replace some that need to be put away. To wit:

I forced my dotter to bond with me during Enchanted, which we both enjoyed watching together, although dotter chided me for talking too much during the movie. I gleefully plugged in my own headphones for the in-flight movie on the trip home: Enchanted! I enjoyed watching it the 5th time as much as I enjoyed it the first time, and will probably watch it again this summer.

G’son and I went shopping and scored some major book buys, as well as a replacement chiminea for the one that literally fell apart on the outside deck. We added 2 bags of chiminea wood and had the first fire of the season, complete with a bottle of wine and a visit from the neighbor who saw the fire and couldn’t resist joining us.

G’son glommed onto a pair of my hand-knit slippers in my suitcase and sent me an email request for 2 more pairs, one in red and the other in mustard. I’ll work on that this week. He also loved the crocheted washcloths I made to match the kitchen, which was repainted a year ago, so I made him 3 new washcloths for his bathroom. It’s nice that someone enjoys the fruits of my labors so enthusiastically.

We played pirates with the 3-year-old from next door, an exhausting experience for a young sitter and damn near fatal for this worn out g’ma! I also took care of him while his dad helped dotter replace the furniture and reconnect the electronics in the living room, for which she had prepared by tagging all of the cords. I talked him into watching Free Willy, which he loved. He turned the carpeting into the ocean, made a fish tank out of an afghan, and convinced himself that a soccer ball was a huge ocean rock. Even though he didn’t understand the part when the fish tank broke, when Willy jumped the breakwater to freedom, we both cheered!

G’son’s guitar playing is pretty darned good, so I filmed him during practice one day and am sharing the amateur video with both G’pa and Uncle J. There are also some now-current photos of both dotter and g’son that can be printed and hung on the wall. Hint-hint.

Dotter and I repainted the deep red living room, a process that involved spackling the holes, covering the deep red with tinted primer, painting the first coat of the chosen color, and then custom mixing our own version of the chosen color when it turned out to be more yellow than gold. Fortunately, both of us are HGTV enthusiasts, so we added brown to the yellow and achieved the perfect gold we thought we bought in the first place with nary a twinge of worry whether it would work.

We stopped by an Amish furniture store and I bought a stool. It’s going to live in the kitchen, where it appears to serve several functions quite nicely, but when I’m there, it’s MY stool! I also now have a free calendar that features photos from the area, a nice bonus.

We ate chicken for almost every meal, including the special chicken dinner barbequed by the Boy Scouts the day before my departure. When I cut up left-overs, I realized that we had 3 different preparation methods in the storage bags, as well as some Chicken Caesar Salad. The lasagna served one night was a refreshing change of food group, as was the total pig-out dotter and I shared at the Outback the night before I flew back home.

We also talked about the summer adventure g’son and I are planning, making some changes to the original ideas and then drawing up a contract that we both signed. As I explained to him, I’m investing some serious money in airline tickets, rental car, hotels and food, so don’t want the day to arrive and find out that he doesn’t want to go with me after all. He used the camera I bought for our trip to document the living room project, some of it from underneath the piles of stuff moved to the middle of the room, but the movies he took didn’t turn out, so we’ll have to work on that skill.

Dotter’s neighbor cut about 6” off my hair, which feels funny and doesn’t look right (yet), but I’m sure it was necessary and probably looks better than it did before it was cut.

We talked as there was much to talk about this trip. I continue to wish I lived closer, but that isn’t going to happen at this point in time, so we’ll have to continue our conversations via media. It’s important for us to stay connected—and we will do so, one way or another.

And, although one flight was 1/2 hour late arriving at its destination, the connecting flight left 1/2 later than scheduled, so it worked out just fine. My ride was waiting, my bag arrived on time, and I slept in my own bed. Mia came home this morning, spent an hour sprawled across my lap, and then retired to her old, smelly floor pillow, where she is still snoring away the afternoon.