The Sandwich Life

Toothwatch and Quincy, IL

I spent the morning at the dentist. He's lovely, his staff is lovely, nothing really hurt. It was all quite nice. But. I did not enjoy myself. Or, I'd prefer not to, as my and Leo's favorite Christmas present from Heather stated. 

After what felt like eons with four hands in my mouth I was released. I can't say I have a phobia or the like about dentists but, well, I'd prefer not to. I find I am somewhat exhausted from tensing myself up through the whole thing. A couple of times I wanted to ask where we were in the game...you know what exactly were they doing at that moment. And they were sweet as pie and would have been happy to tell me, but somehow my mind was locked up tight and I didn't feel as though I could form words, that I just had to lay there thinking about how odd the whole thing was.

I am now the proud owner of a temporary crown. The cracked tooth was determined not cracked enough to NOT try a crown but it's still a wait and see situation. He told me there's more than 50 percent chance I'll need a root canal, but that could be years from now, or tomorrow, or, or course, this weekend when he's out of town.

I just sent Owen and Ernie on an errand just to get Owen out of the house because he is so LOUD. He was trying to convince Ernie and me to go out but I feel like I just want to curl up and be still and quiet and let me crown become one with my tooth.

Tomorrow we are planning, depending on how toothwatch goes, to trek over to Quincy, Illinois. Any travel recommendations?

Oh, and a couple of songs by Aaron Lee Tasjan....really looking forward to his January 27th show....

 

 

Christmas Sloth

I think it was a year or two ago that Sasha coined the phrase 'Christmas Squalor' to describe that post Christmas lazy relaxation phase. This year I fear we could up it to 'Christmas Sloth.' I swore that yesterday would be our last lazy day only to wake up to the one of the rainiest, dreary days that could be imagined. Our sump pump is trying its best to keep up with the rain but we are avoiding the basement just the same. Dark, dark skies, puddles in the yards around us....it just wasn't the day to begin being productive.

Instead I subscribed to Kindle Unlimited for a month for free and am going through all the slightly B level books that look appealing. I took a swing at music memoirs/biographies and managed to read an unauthorized biography of Creedence Clearwater Revival, a biography of Lou Gramm (I know), and the story of a groupie in the hair metal days. I'm now midways through a memoir by a guy from the Spoons but I'm not sure I'll make it all the way. After being inspired by friend Toby, Ernie and I tried to watch the 1976 movie 'Record City.' I mean even if it's terrible, you gotta love a movie about a record store, right? Uh, no. I didn't even make it halfway through and went back to reading. Tried to watch some other movie with Ernie and couldn't do that either. I took myself off to the quiet living room and the peace of my laptop.

Leo is upstairs clearing off a table in his room so he and Owen can work on rebuilding his Lego Millenium Falcon. Ernie finally finished his movie so I made him build a fire in the fireplace. I found some chicken thighs in the freezer and will scrounge around in the refrigerator for vegetables because no one should have to leave the house on this dreary day.

As I read I try to ignore the fact that my nose is whistling. That's right, my nose has decided to whistle. It doesn't matter if I blow my nose or pinch it shut, or use nasal spray...I whistle. It's driving me insane. Ernie alternates between ignoring it like a gentleman or giggling (usually if Owen is with him). I googled to no avail. Google told me it could be a deviated septum due to incessant nose picking or cocaine use but I don't think either is the case. My eyes continue to water because I thought my blepharitis was better and stopped using the little medicated things on my eyelids cause, you know, the cost adds up. My left knee if hurting because I made the mistake of....wait for it.....KNEELING on it. Good GOD people. Ah, what the hell. It's Christmas Sloth Time here. I'll make Ernie put another log on the fire and put on some music to drown out the nose whistle!

I hope everyone  elseis enjoying some Christmas Squalor, or Christmas Sloth. And for all of you that headed back to work, I hope your week is an easy one!

Ernie and I don't always do a lot for Christmas gifts for each other so I was blown away by the Le Creuset braiser from the three of them AND my song book and sonnets by our beloved David Olney. They outdid themselves! 

Damn. Lucky.

The night of the 27th. I should be thinking about dinner but I'm sitting here in the dark, with the trees glowing, watching some Steve Forbert interviews on youtube. Ernie and the boys are watching the National Lampoon Christmas movie in the other room. I feel peaceful. I think we all feel happy.

Christmas was lovely. As always we probably spent too much but I gotta say, those boys of mine are so appreciative that it does my heart more good than I can say. They are sweet, sweet peas. First thing on Christmas morning they insisted we open our presents, even before they opened any of theirs. Do they have any idea how much I adore that? 

I owe a bunch of folks some thank you notes. We are so blessed with our friends. And my family? Well, I just don't know how I got so lucky.

Merry Christmas....because the 12 days of Christmas are just beginning!

Waiting for daylight on Christmas morning, after having opened presents. I took my traditional Christmas morning nap, and it was delightful....

 

In The Oven

Well. Between Heather's tips and Ceal's pastry cloth....we seem to have achieved pie. It is in the oven now....so we shall see how it tastes, but it mixed up and rolled out beautifully.

Crossed fingers.

My Grandma Plouffe's meat pie, or tourtiere.

Merry Christmas to my sister Debbie! Remember how exciting it was to get the box of presents from Grandma and Grandpa in Maine? If they were squishy we knew they were nightgowns or something Grandma knitted.

Getting Ready

Pouring rain, 60+ degrees, and a tornado watch on December 23rd. Humph. I WILL have a fire in the fireplace anyway!

Yesterday Ernie and I did a bit of shopping and I took a brief afternoon nap. I paid for it by not being able to sleep last night but it was delightful despite that. After that we trotted down to the Esquire, said hi to Ceal and Roger and Rex, drank a toast to Adam and Annie, and even managed to score our favorite booth. One of my holiday highlights is getting to see the lovely Lisa Savage so we sat and chatted with her while the boys talked Star Wars. Then we hugged her farewell and walked over to the Virginia to see The Polar Express. I may not love the News-Gazette's politics but I love having a local newspaper that even sponsors movies for its subscribers!

I had been delighted that the boys agreed to go and it was truly wonderful. Owen wanted to sit in the balcony which was fortuitous because we got to see an old colleague of mine, Phyllis---which was delightful! I guess we saw Polar Express first in the theater but we have watched it so many times...and I mean SOOOO many times on the small screen since then.....all of us were blown away by the details and impact of it on the Virginia's big screen. I had to take my boots off because the toes are so long that I couldn't fit them behind the seats comfortably....once I got my boots off I settled down happily, looking over every so often to see Leo smiling. After the movie the boys refused to let me take a picture of them in front of the tree in the Virginia so we set off, after Leo and I rolled our eyes at Owen and Ernie frolicking in the parking lot....to look at the lights in Candlestick Lane.

A delightful evening.

Too much to do today, but what the hell, what needs to get done will get done.....

 

Glowing and Relaxing

Man, the State of Illinois may be crazy fucked up (December and no budget?) but I do love getting enough vacation days to take a break around the holidays (and a boss that doesn't make me feel guilty for taking them). Sunday we were left with a powerful post house concert glow from Fats and Kristi Rose and then we went to a beautiful party for our beloved friend Kent. Sadly it was a going away party but the wonderful crowd showed what a great friend he is. We will keep him in our heart until we see him next. It was nice having Owen come along. He told me, "Of COURSE I want to go, Kent and Sue are my friends."

Ernie and Kent

Mary blowing Owen's mind with a Star Wars theory:

Yesterday we proclaimed it a day of rest and laziness. We all slept late (except poor Ernie), and Ernie made biscuits with ham for breakfast (with Bloody Mary's for us). Ernie and I did a bit of last minute shopping online and that was about the last productive thing we did. We didn't even get dressed. We had a fire in the fireplace because 57 degrees or no it's CHRISTMAS! Ernie and I watched three, count 'em THREE bad Hallmark/Lifetime Christmas movies....eventually we cooked dinner and watched the Saturday Night Live Christmas special with Owen. At that point I was tv'd out so I curled up in the living room with the last of the fire until I was too sleepy for anything else.

It was lovely.

Today we have an errand or two and then we're all going to go see The Polar Express on the big screen at the Virginia. Christmas with teenagers is different, but it is utterly lovely just the same.

Uncle Mistletoe (above) continues to guard the sideboard, while my serious first grade ornament peers out of the tree below.

 

Fats Kaplin and Kristi Rose Make Christmas Come Early

The best one yet.

Kristi Rose rolled her eyes and told me I always say that, and yet....it was the BEST ONE YET!

I just don't know if I could possibly adore those two any more than I do. And when they said it felt like they were just coming visit family, albeit slightly eccentric family, I was inordinately flattered, and we feel like they are family as well.

Their music, as always, was stunning, and we had dramatic readings (the Christmas Carol), magic by Fats, and even a bit of dance. It was utterly glorious. There was great food, there were adorable kids, it really was almost revoltingly perfect ---rom my point of view anyway! Numerous people told me they finally felt like it was Christmas and we certainly did ourselves.

Never again will we let a year go by without them being here, and that's NOT even because they made fun of me all night!

Merry Christmas, with all my love, to Fats, Kristi Rose, and all of you that made the evening so special!

A few highlights courtesy Teri McCarthy and Chuck Ayers! Photos by Richard Hill. Thanks all!

 

  

Get OUT of the Kitchen

Me in the kitchen moments ago:

"Oh my God, all these things are so dusty; this is disgusting!"

"Oh my God, the salmon is still completely frozen! Why didn't we take this out earlier"

"Oh man, this sink is disgusting, it's all grimy and there's NO space on the counter."

"I've still got to peel the potatoes, and bake the cookies, and cook the salmon and the ham."

"There is so much to do!"

I am now in the living room. Ernie hustled me out of the kitchen. Not before I took the dusty post its off the refrigerator and stuck them in the drawer with the plastic bags and foil. Helpful, huh? He shook his head and told me to get out and let him finish what he was doing.

Owen suggested alcohol. I told him it was too early.

Oh, and we never remembered to turn off the heater vent near our Christmas tree in the living room so it is so dry it's practically hurling the ornaments to the floor. Here's the difference between the two trees:

Ha! Oh well. Next year, next year, as they say.

All will be well, or at least hidden in candlelight by the time you all start getting here at 6 tonight!

I love the wreaths on this church we drive by every morning so much that we finally stopped to take a picture!

Kristi Rose emailed to say they were on the way and to see if had an extra Santa hat. Owen said she could use his so I think we're good to go! See you tonight----in spirit if not in fact!

 

The Force

I was mildly cranky last night as I had made plans to take a colleague out for a drink for his birthday and as a general we love you kind of thing, and at the last minute I realized that it was Star Wars night. I had bought tickets some time ago for the guys to go on opening night. I broached the subject of me not going and that didn't go over well. So I figured I needed to just suck it up and go. They picked me up after work and as soon as I got in the warm car with that just barely suppressed level of excitement my mood totally changed.

We got there about 20 after 5:00 for a the 7:00 show. Fortunately the theater wasn't being used so we could go ahead and find seats and not wait in line. We chatted and watched the theater fill up. Owen told me I can't write anything about the movie so I won't...except to say how on earth can a 73 year old Harrison Ford be so freaking sexy? MAN. I won't say anything else although I will say that some of it was almost too much for one of my tenderhearted boys. Damn I love those creatures.

Remember when Leo dressed up as Han Solo for Halloween? And somebody asked him which Beatle he was? That was the year Owen went as the blonde Ramone.

Ahhh, the force. The force of my boys.....

Oh, and I gotta say, as I have seen posted on facebook and the like, whenever someone says "May the Force be with you" I can't help but mouth "and also with you."

Family, Fats, and Ernie

Sometimes I just miss these little guys. Even while I admire the men they are becoming, I just miss those little boys. I remember how strange it was to miss them inside of me after giving birth. It seemed ridiculous to miss that when I was holding the same baby....but I did.

Look at the love shining between the two of them....

and my sweet peas....

I've been missing my family a lot of late. I haven't seen Debbie in, could it be, two years? And the rest are all gone. Even in a dream I had last night.....somebody gave me a strange Christmas present and as I laughed about it I said, "Oh, it's times like this that I miss my sister Judi." Even in my dreams!

I'm looking forward to Christmas with my sweet boys though. Because I know those sweet babies are still in there.....

In the meantime? On to the weekend with our BELOVED Kristi Rose and Fats Kaplin!!!I remember Fats playing this that night so well. While they were getting ready to come to our place Kristi Rose told Fats that he HAD to learn how to do this song on his own because Ernie always asked for it. At the same time I was telling Ernie to NOT ask Fats to play it as he always felt bad when he couldn't. Poor Fats and Ernie....they both probably get told what to do a lot...but by such WONDERFUL women, no?