9.30.16 - September joy statuses

9.30.16 - Autumn weather

Just earlier this week it was still in the mid-nineties, but Sunday it's supposed to be cool and even rain. I'm so excited I check the weather every day to make sure the forecast hasn't changed.

9.24.16 - craft potluck

Erin, Rachel, and Sarah came over for what was originally going to be an autumn-themed craft potluck, but since the weather was still reaching the 90s and since I needed to make going away and get well soon cards instead, it was more just a generic craft potluck. It was still really enjoyable though.

I had been having a pretty hard week, even up to as recently as that morning, and I had considered cancelling the get together, but I'm really glad I didn't. It was good to be around friends and focus on pleasant things for awhile. Plus it was my first day off calorie counting since I started another bet with Dad, and that in itself made the day wonderful. Erin brought sliced French bread with salami and Brie and white cheddar and apple butter. Sarah brought a salad that involved (I think) walnuts. I made chocolate chip banana bread and Rachel brought chips and dips. It was way more food than we could eat (as potlucks almost always are) but it was delicious.

Then we just sat around the kitchen table and visited. Rachel and Sarah colored pages from Sarah's coloring book (one of those ones for adults with very complicated pictures). Erin and I made cards - she made two birthday cards and I made a going away card for our program director and the (second) get well soon card for my grandmother.

At different points throughout the visit Sarah and also Erin talked about how wonderfully relaxing these craft get togethers are. It made me very happy that they said that because I sometimes wonder if people are bored. I definitely enjoy them though. All together they stayed about 6 hours!

I was hoping to do another get together in October to make either Halloween or Thanksgiving cards, but the schedule looks incredibly busy. However I have already scheduled what has become the annual hot chocolate potluck for December, so that's something to look forward to.

9.22.16 - Autumn equinox

9.21.16 - "Reasons to keep going," a mini-joy inventory

9.18.16 - Salad bar dream

Last night I had a dream about the best salad bar ever. First I drove up a winding path to the top of a hill covered in orchards and gardens. At the top was a small cottage-like building that turned out to be a restaurant, but all of the seating was outside at well-shaded picnic tables. Every table was covered with really beautiful, colorful ceramic bowls, each with different salad ingredients in them. I remember there were a lot of bowls that featured different cheeses, and one bowl with a bunch of sliced hard boiled eggs. Underneath each table was a custom made shelf that held a seemingly endless variety of dressings. It was one of the most delicious dreams I've ever had.

9.16.16 - Clara joys

Tonight Jack needed to run to his car to get something. Every time one of us opens the front door to step out for anything, Clara gets really excited and chases us as fast as she can to go too. So I figured him leaving was a good time to go check the mail and I took her with me. She was so excited to RUN down the sidewalk to the mailboxes, and after I got the mail she kept running down the various sidewalks in the apartment complex for a good twenty minutes.

Her legs are short enough that I can keep up with her at a pretty casual walk, so I just followed her around as she turned down one sidewak and then another. Occasionally she would start walking to people's front doors, but I would just pick her up and turn her around and she'd run in whatever direction I faced her. At one point she ran down a sidewalk and turned to run back up it and turned again, and she repeated this for quite awhile, the whole time holding her breath in excitement and then letting it out again in quick bursts and waving her hands in the air. It was a nice evening walk.

Then later tonight she was wearing what for her is an oversized PJ tshirt. I was lying on the living room floor and she crawled on me like she often does and then snuggled into me, so I rubbed her back and went to pat her diaper butt--but it wasn't a diaper butt, it was just a bare butt! Jack and I were both surprised/amused/confused, and we found her diaper just sitting next to the coffee table. I guess she took it off? It was pretty funny realizing that naked butt was running around.

Then, finally, tonight I was reading to her from "Goodnight Gorilla." There's a series of pages she especially likes where Mrs. Zookeeper turns out the light and then everyone in the dark says "good night" (I say all the "good night"s in different voice). On the next page it is entirely black except Mrs. Zookeeper's wide surprised eyes, and I always gasp and whispe "What was that?" Finally the next page shows her turning the light back on, and the zoo animals all stare at her and the gorilla has a guilty grinn on his face, and I make the noise "Eeeeee" (I don't know why, that's just always what came to me). Anyway so I read all that to her tonight and when the book was done I gave it to her to flip through. When she got to the surprised eyes page she gasped and whispered "Da bah da!" Then she flipped to the next page and said "Eeeeee!" then flipped on and continued babbling. But it's just so delightful to realize how much she's picking up and imitating already.

"Eeeeee!"

9.13.16 - Dad's joys

9.12.16 - time savers

9.12.16 - Burgers & Brew date

Jack and I had a really nice lunch date today. We went to Burgers and Brew and there weren't many people there. We sat at a big table by the sunny window. Jack had just this morning told a classmate that he was going on a date with his wife to B&B, and the classmate recommended we get the New England fries; they're fries covered in bacon, cheese, and clam chowder, and I thought it sounded iffy but it was absolutely delicious. We destroyed them.

Taking a pic of the destroyed New England fries.

Of course we also got huge burgers with more frieds and a side salad (in his case) and it was way more than I could eat. Mine had avocado.

But what made the date particularly nice was when we were done eating we just sat and talked for another 40 minutes or so. We talked about what I'm doing at the internship and what he's doing with classes, and I think how his family is doing. It was just undistracted, uninterrupted time together and it was so pleasant. We only left because we realized the meter was about to be up at our parking space.

I'm so glad we still go on a few dates a month. :)

9.12.16 - time savers

9.9.16 - Jennifer's joys

9.8.16 - Little Blue Truck

Tonight I read Clara "Little Blue Truck," and when I was finished she took the book from me to look at herself. At first she had it upside down and she flipped through most of the pages silently. Then she turned it rightside up and started babbling, I guess as the pictures became more recognizable. The first thing she said was "beep beep beep" which is the last line of the book, and I was just grinning to myself because she's so smart. She kept babbling with a lot of distinct "beeps" and even a couple "bump bump"s which is another part, and I tried to imagine what she thinks the story is about and whether this book will always remind her of childhood.

It was a sweet moment. I am so enjoying her increasing ability to mimic us.

9.8.16 - Ellen's joys!