November Tidbits

In a frenzy of holiday spirit, I inexplicably felt strongly that Ireland and Brigitta needed to have new bedding for Christmas. They already had pillowcases, but they needed the full treatment- their beds needed to look like they were straight out of the Pottery Barn catalog. Why? I'm not sure. But we tricked out their beds as soon as everything arrived and they enjoyed them all throughout the holidays.

On a rough day when I was in the middle of playing chauffer to the girls I spotted this shark sticking out of a garbage and it struck my funny bone something fierce. I drove by a couple of times, determined to get a good picture. Then after picking up the girls I drove them by again to make them laugh. I feel ya Mr. Shark... My day has been filled with nothing but rubbish too!

Ireland and I were watching Father of the Bride and there's a scene where George Banks says he realized Annie was leaving and he'd never see her at the top of the stairs in her socks. Overcome with sentimentality, I reached over and stroked her cheek. She wryly said, "I'm only 12 Mom, I'm not getting married."

Aunt Beck sweetly sent a package of goodies for the girls which also included candy necklaces. Gita and Sydney donned them immediately and munched on them throughout the day. I have to say I love the look! More importantly, we really adore Aunt Beck.

Brigitta got a ring stuck on her finger which rapidly began swelling up. Even with cold water, even with soap, even with oil, I could not get it off. I grabbed the wire snips from the garage and we ran downstairs, tears streaming down Gita's face. Brent managed to snip it off without pinching her finger and we threw the now-useless ring away. Crisis averted!

On November 8th we voted!

We had our first real snow and these two were pretty elated to put on all their gear and head out into the powder.

Sydney shuffled into the office and placed her American Girl Doll next to me. She told me she was there so I wouldn't get lonely while I worked. It's the sweetest, most innocent thing someone has done for me in a long time.

Somehow I got the Machiavellian idea to check in on the girls and see if they were doing anything nefarious. I figured if I acted like I already knew something, they'd confess. The text string to both of them went like this:

Me: You two are in BIG trouble! I think you know why...
Liesel: ??? messy room?
Me: I think we all need to have a talk when you get home. EXPECT TO BE GROUNDED!
Liesel: what?
Me: Seriously? You're going to play it off like we don't know? My sister is a professional hacker and we aren't idiots.
Liesel: I have no idea what you are talking about? what did I do?
Me: I think the bigger question is WHY DID YOU DO IT?!?!!!!
Ireland: what do you mean
Me: If we have to tell you, it's going to be a lot worse than if you just confess.

Well Ireland arrived home first and I told her I was just kidding- just checking to see if they were doing anything. She burst into tears saying she'd been stressing out about it since she saw the text message in class. Liesel started texting her begging to know what it was and then Ireland ghosted her. Liesel arrived home and I said, "Right- let's get Dad and talk about this" and she burst into tears as well. 

The best laid plans of Mice and Men...

They felt a little better when they found out I'd mentioned what I was doing to Reagan, who decided to try it on her daughter Paisley. Paisley responded, "I'm tryin dawg..." which got a laugh.

Absolutely no idea where Gita gets her money... or how she holds on to it for so long!

Thanksgiving in Birmingham

It was quite the gathering at Tim and Whitney's for Thanksgiving this year! We were all eager to see their new house and to check out Birmingham. Even though it was a long drive, we really enjoyed it. Kentucky is gorgeous! There must have been some kind of accident because we were routed through some single-lane roads and the landscape was so pretty. The state sign says Sweet Home Alabama and of course we had to put on some Lynyrd Skynyrd as we wound our way to Birmingham. Gita was thrilled to meet their newest golden Felix. She was in heaven with those two dogs!

Tim's schedule doesn't allow him to go to church very often so we were happy to accompany Whitney. After a bit, I realized people weren't saying "rat juice" but "righteous". It was good to meet some of her Seminary students too. My company has a big office and I thought I'd just work from there. Early Monday morning I found myself locked out and absolutely no one in sight. Brent helped me break in which involved precariously climbing over a staircase. I made it though and found the place pretty much deserted. They are preparing to downsize since so many people prefer to work remotely. The white noise fans were extremely loud so I had a headache every day but at least I got my work in. 

Pretty much everyone had cleaned out their desks so whatever was left was free game. I scored some stuff like this Buzz Lightyear! In the future I don't think I'll go into this office again, even if I am in town. The people weren't unkind, but they weren't friendly either. It was dirty and there just wasn't really any benefit to physically being in the office. I met just a handful of people but they were generally quick interactions- as if no one wanted to be there.

The girls enjoyed the scooters when they visited me for lunch! After this I asked Brent to take me out for lunch so I could get away from the office.

There's a really great trail by my work and Whitney let me try her e-bike which was so much fun! We actually celebrated Thanksgiving early since people had to travel. Whitney gathered everyone to take some family photos.

I love this photo of my parents in rockers on a southern porch. So cute.

Whitney also made a fun announcement:

Dad sobbed and sobbed and sobbed. It's been a very long, rough road for this girl. I'm so happy for her!

Lots of time to hang out with family! I'm told my girls were helpful while I was at work and I managed to have some fun conversations in the time I was able to be with everyone.

It was actually kind of nice to do Thanksgiving early and then have the day to relax and just have leftovers. It felt like we got ahead of the rush. Brent and I walked the dogs and I was able to spend some 1:1 time with my mom. It's hard watching her memory being erased. She struggled to remember my name and she kept talking about going home even though they are staying in Birmingham for the winter. She hadn't showered since they arrived so I spent hours organizing the clothes in their suitcases to make things easier. I laid out an outfit and got her in the shower then dried her hair- trying my best to give her a little flip. 

Whitney and I grabbed my girls and did some Black Friday shopping. We had lunch at Real and Rosemary which everyone really enjoyed.

Ireland had a sandwich with fried green tomatoes!

The chaos was a bit much for Mom so we asked the girls to chill in the car while we took her to a furniture store. It was much quieter and she could just browse and comment on the different decorating styles. Whitney found these adorable gnomes- their hats are different kinds of tree bark! She gifted me one but I had to have all three.

Brent and I took the oldest two to the temple to do baptisms for the dead. Tim was going to go but he was horribly sick and Whitney was likewise feeling the pains of pregnancy so it was just us.

Liesel was thrilled to discover the baptistry at the Birmingham temple is exactly like the Palmyra, NY temple.

Thanks to our family history-loving Bishop, the girls had some names of their own. 

Afterwards we went to Pappadeaux's as I was hoping to eat something other than chicken. I was sure they would have salmon but no, pretty much everything was fried and smothered in creamy sauce so I had a grilled chicken. It was good though! Ireland had baked stuffed crabs which she loved!

 All in all we really tried to be helpful- walking the dogs, cleaning, helping with my parents as much as possible, just trying to lighten the load. We were able to leave our Christmas gifts for them which was nice to save on shipping and we really did enjoy Birmingham! 

Wicked

I'm a fan of just about any story that focuses on the power of friendship between two women. The boy-meets-girl has just be done and I think women are so much more interesting, they shouldn't be relegated to a love interest. As such, we snapped up our tickets to see Wicked and we were so excited to share this experience with the girls! This was their first Broadway musical and they didn't quite know what to expect. We tried explaining it was the backstory of the Wizard of Oz. We played the music for them. We described the plot but in the end, we told them they just needed to see it. Brent had to work downtown so he met us at the parking garage and we grabbed some dinner. It was clear the other people at Potbelly's were going to Wicked as well. Finally, we headed to the theater. Before going inside, we had to snap a few photos!

Brent had been following a singer on TikTok who happens to be the alternate for Elphaba in this production. She didn't perform this night, but it did pique his interest just that much more in going.

Just a few more photos by the posters!

I dunno why but I like the black and white better!

An usher with a button that said she had seen Wicked 57 times showed us some booster seats which was perfect. We were seated at the front of the balcony- prime viewing for the Defying Gravity number. I remembered the map but I completely forgot about the dragon! Gita really loved when the dragon's eyes glowed red...

About that Defying Gravity number- I kid you not, it felt like Elphaba was singing directly to us. I sat pinned to my seat as her beautiful voice washed over me and it felt like a baptism of sorts- I felt healed. In that moment it felt like everything was going to be ok and I let go of all those little concerns hanging out in the corners of my mind and just soaked up this moment. That may sound cheesy, but it's true!

I was concerned the girls wouldn't enjoy it- they'd be bored or think it was too weird. When the lights came up for intermission, it was clear they, too, had seen the light. They LOVED it! I mean really loved it. Brent and I couldn't stop smiling at each other. The Popular number was really campy- even more so than I remembered. They really hammed it up. For Good was incredibly touching which I loved since I feel like it's the crux of the whole show.

This is the girls doing Galinda's hair "toss, toss".

Not our theater, but we passed this on the way back to the parking garage and I had to snap a photo! I love that we live in Chicago!

Not only did the girls love it, they started plotting for ways to see Wicked again before it left Chicago. They checked for available tickets, counted up their loose change, they told me about a daily lottery... our schedule was just too packed to make it happen (and really, those tickets are so expensive, one time is enough) but I'm so happy they enjoyed themselves! Gita decided to be Elphaba for next Halloween and Sydney decided to be Galinda- vacillating between which colorful costume to wear. Ahhh I'm so glad we did this!!!

Happy Birthday Sydney!

I can't quite explain it, but we weren't on our game for Sydney's birthday. We remembered to do breakfast in bed, she got a cake and presents and her favorite meal for dinner. We just kind of couldn't keep the rest of the traditions in our brains somehow. Since Covid we can't join our kids for lunch at the school anymore but food can be dropped off. Sydney was keen to have Brent drop off some Chick-fil-a and he completely forgot. She not only had to eat a school lunch, but she was there waiting for her special meal and it just... never arrived. 

Normally we go around the table and say one "I Like Sydney Because..." and one " I Remember When..." We forgot to do that too. She kept asking to do it and we just... forgot... every. time.

We were scheduled to do Feed My Starving Children the morning of her birthday with the new dance studio we were joining. Already big fans of doing service there, we checked with Sydney who was all in. They even had everyone stop packing for a moment to cheer for her and she got to pick out a free t-shirt from the gift shop. She loved all the attention and we were pretty darn proud of her for being willing to spend some of her birthday helping out other children.

Sydney was also recognized during a school assembly for Veteran's Day. She was wearing her white dress with the rainbow ric rac trim and her teacher commented on how she looked like a birthday cake! So it wasn't a total loss!