Driveby

I hate it when I slack off around here and then come back full of excuses, but it's the craziest three weeks of the year at work, I've been spending a lot of time in the garden, blah blah excuse cakes. I wanted to sit down and write something really brilliant about how much I'm enjoying my kid these days, but I don't think tonight is the night to do it justice. Instead, have some disconnected bullet points.

>> I inexplicably lost five pounds over the last month or so. It's definitely welcome and long overdue, but I really can take no credit. I am pleased to report that, thanks to this surprise weight loss, I bought a pair of cute cargo capris for the summer from the JUNIORS DEPARTMENT the other day. Granted, it was the largest size they make in juniors, but still. And they're not sad, slutty juniors pants, either…they're cute and quite age-appropriate. Huzzah!

>> We added a dozen or so itty bitty toad tadpoles to our aquarium this past week, courtesy of one of the volunteers at my workplace. So far no one is trying to metamorphose, but I anticipate much excitement later in the summer. Probably from me.
Nico using his magnifying glass. "Tadpoles are big!"
>> My Mother's Day was low key yet awesome. MB and Nico made a card for me, which was way better than flowers. MB made pancakes for breakfast and let me order pizza for dinner, and in between he built another raised bed out in the garden for me (more on that later).

>> I took Nico to the zoo yesterday and let him play in the fountain at the entry for half an hour before we left. I was feeling endlessly smug over having an entire dry outfit in the car for him, but I'm feeling less smug now that it's 36 hours later and his only properly-fitting pair of non-Croc shoes are still soaked. We may be hitting up Target on the way home from swimming lessons tomorrow.

>> I have been plugging away at our ugly garden, and am actually pretty pleased with how far it's come. I've planted six tomato plants and a whole passel of peppers. We have one plant each of red bell, green bell, sweet banana, red chili, poblano, jalapeño, serrano, habanero, and Cajun belle. I also have four zucchini plants, which will probably be three too many if it's a good growing year for those. The store where I got my plants only had zucchini in a four-pack, though. I posted some pictures and a more thorough update over at the garden blog, if anyone is interested.

>> I read The Bloggess's book and it was really good. It literally made me laugh out loud quite a few times, and not just because it included my favorite post - which I can no longer find on her blog - about leaving a series of increasingly hilariously aggressive post-it notes for her husband.

>> In case I don't find the time to get back on here before Friday, let me go ahead and tell you guys that we're leaving Friday for our first-ever family vacation (other than weekend camping trips, which I don't count). It's also the first real vacation MB and I have taken together since my friend Kate got married back in 2006. As in SIX YEARS ago. We're going to Memphis for five days to visit BoMB and Nie and I suspect it's going to be awesome. Other than the six-hour drive with a toddler, that is.

I'm sure I'll send an embarrassing number of photos to Twitter every day, but I don't know if I'll be posting here or not. I'm not planning to take my laptop, so it depends on how motivated I feel to tap out posts on my phone. I promise to take lots of pictures of my cute kid doing cute things to share later, though, for those of you who are just here for the curls.


Reading:  American Canopy: Trees, Forests, and the Making of a Nation by Eric Rutkow



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