Category — Uncategorized

I finally have both kids at home. They returned on different days because their final exams ran at different times. They’ll also return to school on different dates, so I have to go through the goodbyes twice, which are more difficult than staggered hellos.

I counted down the days until they would get home, but a part of me also kept thinking that the moment they stepped into the house, the clock began running toward the goodbye next month. I know this thinking isn’t helpful, and it certainly doesn’t keep me in the moment, but I can’t stop myself from doing it. I dread them leaving so much because having them here is such a joy.

Trying to stay in the present for the next few weeks.

We are currently in Slow Season, which is much less catchy than Noah Kahan’s Stick Season. Slow Season begins in mid-December and continues until the second week of January as people finish up projects and mentally check out at the end of the year.

I’m not great with Slow Season, mostly because I dislike slowing down. I like to keep going. While other people have a reason to slow down, I don’t. So my slowdown isn’t filled with something else. It’s just emptiness, waiting for the energy to flow back into the workplace.

I keep myself busy during Slow Season, and it helps to know it is coming and plan accordingly. I have the twins home, so they fill the space. And I left a big project for myself to start, so everything will be in place when work returns to normal.

Slow Season feels a little like a waiting room.

Every once in a while, the publisher puts my books on sale. The e-book for Apart at the Seams is currently 99 cents from December 16 until December 31, 2023. And then, in January, Life from Scratch is on sale for 99 cents from January 1 until January 15, 2024. Happy reading.

I’m not sure which is cooler — the amusement park itself or the website telling the story of the amusement park. [Really, take a break today and enjoy exploring the site. It is gorgeous.]

It’s an art amusement park with rides and exhibits created by some of the most famous artists of this century (Jean-Michel Basquiat, Salvador Dalí, Keith Haring). The rides feel closer to experiences, akin to Yayoi Kusama’s infinity mirrors.

I want to go to this, pretty please, yes, please?

I dropped Beorn’s hay bowl while washing it, and it broke into four large ceramic shards. The hay bowl matched the food bowl — they came as a set — and we returned to the store to get a second bowl, but Petco no longer sold it. I couldn’t find the set online because it has to be three years old. So we went with a different, slightly larger, tan bowl.

And Beorn will only eat the hay down the rim with the new bowl.

Meaning, anything below the rim remains in the bowl. Beorn happily consumes anything above the edge. He stands over the bowl so he can see the rest of the hay, but he refuses to eat anything below the rim of this new, suspicious, terrible, tan hay bowl.

I’ve apologized non-stop, and he looks at me dryly while I explain for the 900th time that I messed up. That soap makes your hands slippery, and I will take more care in the future when washing the remaining green and white food dish. But he won’t budge on this.