Monday, October 10, 2016

yellow and grey

There are only two kinds of mornings: yellow and grey. They are all bleary. We have light reducing shades in our room, so I never know what kind of day it will be until I open the blinds. The first thing I notice is whether it is "yellow" outside or "grey." It's interesting that my brain doesn't comprehend blue sky. I think it's because I'm always looking out at the backyard and the sun catches the highlights on the grass and turns them a color that my early-morning blinkery blink blink scrunchy-faced filter processes as "yellow." In the absence of yellow, I look to the sky and see only grey.

Grey is beautiful, but I appreciate yellow now, too -- more than I think I ever have. It used to be L's favorite color (until recently) and I got some colored pencils that have about twenty shades of it. I never thought about twenty shades of yellow before. I know there are hundreds of shades of grey, but my mind had not been open to yellow before.

Here's to the last few "yellow" days before the grey sets in for what will probably seem like for good.

Friday, October 7, 2016

sweet things

Today I had some fun playing baseball with the boys. Apparently, it's been too long since we played, since they decided merely running around in a convenient circle without any sort of bases whatsoever and chucking the ball at the runner instead of tagging them is legal. We had a great time anyway.

This week has been a little crazy; last Wednesday L got sick; Thursday, N got sick, and Saturday, HH got sick. I felt unwell, but did not have a fever of 102 like the rest of them. It felt so strange -- bedtime went out the window, since we were going to be up half the night anyway. We watched way more TV than usual due to illness and to General Conference, and our food choices consisted of odd combinations of bread, rice, bananas, and apples. Going to the store was completely out of the question. I tried to make fresh bread on a delayed timer but I didn't read the instructions, so the bread was ready too soon (turns out the timer includes bake time). Honestly, it was pretty bad, the whole thing -- everyone knew they should eat, but didn't want to. I am really grateful that I managed to scrape by relatively unscathed. If we had all been down, I have no idea what we would have done.

Today L caught a frog and I took a priceless picture of him which I cannot post because I cannot find my phone. I seem to always be hunting for my phone and my checkbook -- two things which rarely were lost when I was single. It's interesting how life can change so quickly.

L and I had some quality time tonight while HH took N camping. I made him his favorite (spaghetti) and steamed him the last of the broccoli from the garden. I cooked nearly a pound of pasta for the two of us and it was nearly gone. He really, really likes spaghetti. We also had Reese's cookies and watched a movie and had extra long cuddles.

He also really, really likes me. He told me he loves to look at my face and that I am gentle, sweet, and nice. What a precious sweetheart he is.

We are busy planning our one-year anniversary. Or rather, should I say, I am busy planning. Obviously, a few things (like Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and L's birthday, to name a few) come first, but for me, a big highlight of the year will be New Years Eve. Not only is it a new year, but it is also me celebrating one whole year of having met my whole family. I am hoping to have a big shindig. Or at least fun, if not big. It's a big deal to me, so I want to go all-out! Anyone with extra special celebratory ideas, please share.