TToT – Still Here Living Life
I’m not sure how it happened, exactly, but it’s been two weeks since I posted anything.
Intentional? Not really. I guess we’ve just been busy living life and trying to wind down this school year. This interminably long and drawn out school year, thank you very much Winter From Hell.
But we’re getting there – only four weeks to go! And so I suppose that would be my first item of thankfulness this week. It is almost summer break time. Hoo. Ray.
I have to give a shout-out thankful here to Sarah for e-mailing me to see if all was well. Thanks for caring and checking in!
What else?
Well, last week I had the loveliest Mother’s Day with Kidzilla and the Fab Hub. Zilla was so sweet – her class made gifts at school, of course, but I have to give the group of Kindergarten teachers particular kudos for this effort. Rather than a destined-for-death little annual in a Styrofoam cup, the kids made flowers out of construction paper, foam, craft sticks, and flower pots – so I have a very cute little flower that won’t die to enjoy on my desk.
Zilla procured flowers – filched from my Mom, actually – and the Hub surprised me with roses. That never happens. I’m one of those “flowers die so don’t go there” girls, but every now and then they really are lovely and I was totally surprised. They made me lovely cards and Zilla brought home a book made in school that was all about me. So cute.
So all of that to say that I have a wonderful Husband and Daughter who made me feel special and loved on Mother’s Day even more than they already do every day. What I am most thankful for is not the cards or gifts or flowers, but the fact that my Daughter is such a sweet and thoughtful child. She came up with her ideas all by herself and made every effort to make sure the day was great. She is truly wonderful.
Our Mother’s Day dinner was homemade spaghetti and meatballs which yielded not only that day’s meal, but three freezer bags of sauce and a decently-sized bag of frozen meatballs for future use. I predict meatballs sandwiches in the not too distant future.
I have to add here, while we’re on the topic, that I am so grateful to have my Mom living nearby and that we talk via some means every day. Not everyone is so blessed. And more than that, I am blessed that my Mom is not only a great mother and role model, but my best friend in so many ways. She’s just awesome.
I am thankful for some meal suggestions from Zilla and the Fab Hub this week. I love cooking and planning our meals, but sometimes I just hit a dry spell and come up empty and uninspired. The Hub suggested (and made) homemade pizzas one night and Zilla suggested gnocchi for another. I was thrilled to remember that I had a container of homemade pesto hanging out in the freezer so we thawed that and tossed it with the gnocchi and some diced Roma tomatoes.
I was very grateful to the Fab Hub for not only suggesting homemade pizza but also making it. I was going to do a He Cooks post about his pizza, but it turns out we’ve done that one already! You can check it out here, but take a look at this week’s awesome pizza creation as well…
![20140513_175143[1]](http://www.themeaningofme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/20140513_1751431.jpg)
I should probably mention once again that I am grateful to have a family that enjoys leftovers and never complains. In fact, sometimes they ask for a repeat meal on purpose. So I was glad to deliver a pesto gnocchi redux tonight.
I am thankful this week for progress on some projects and potential future plans. I am pleasantly surprised and happy to find that I’ve lost four pounds without even trying very hard. And I am quite thankful that it is Friday night.
The Fab Hub and I got to spend some time this week just talking about lots of different things. Time like that isn’t always easy to find in the midst of life and the care and feeding of our Kidzilla and three Rotten Cats. It was really nice. Tonight we spent some time listening to music samples. It was fun to dig up songs and talk about what we like. We don’t always remember to take time out for just us as a couple. This song started a hunt for a song that took us on a jaunt from Dramarama…
…through a multi-song detour of Hootie and the Blowfish to Blues Traveler…
… to (finally) Sister Hazel.
I could hear the song in my head but I couldn’t remember either lyrics or title for anything. But some very cool music was heard and a good time was had by all.
I think I can safely speak for both of us and say that we are thankful for Kidzilla’s creativity and humor. Tonight the three of us made barnyard animal finger puppets that came with her monthly Kiwi Crate box. (That’s a whole separate post, which I promise I’ll get to eventually.) After we finished assembling the finger puppets, Zilla wanted to put on a show. Zilla insisted that we hide behind the table so the Hub wouldn’t know who was making the puppets talk.
![20140516_201831[1]](http://www.themeaningofme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/20140516_2018311.jpg)
It was grand fun and we got quite a laugh when Zilla explained the plot…
Z: Let’s pretend the cow died.
Me and Fab Hub: Excuse me?
Z: We’re going to pretend the cow died. Someone was eating him for meat.
Me: And who, exactly, was eating him?
FH: Me! I love meat.
Z: No. Not Dad. These guys. (She demonstrates something with her hands as some sort of character.)
Me: Who is that?
FH: Carnivores.
Me: OK, specifically what kind of carnivores, Zilla? Are they supposed to be humans?
Z: No. The cow was killed by steak-loving hedgehogs.
![20140516_201756[1]](http://www.themeaningofme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/20140516_2017561.jpg)
OK…
Aside from the fact that this little scene was, well, bizarre, Zilla’s comedic timing is spot-on and her delivery is impeccable. She had us cracking up. There really isn’t much better fun than a Friday night puppet show with Zilla.
Have I mentioned that I am thankful that it’s Friday?
Hope your week – or two – has been filled with moments of thankfulness. Link ’em up or share in the comments!
Oh, nearly forgot…Three Things of Worthwhile
- I am a good mother.
- I am a good teacher. I am particularly good at helping students who struggle with ADHD and its associated co-morbidities.
- I provided an ear for a colleague and friend who needed to talk.
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Happy to see you back and man you just took me back with all three of those songs and now I have Sister Hazel stuck in my head. All-in-all a great song and not bad to be singing at 7:30 in the morning!! 🙂
Thanks, Janine. Not a bad way to start the morning, right?
This was such a happy post to read… good food, good fun, good ways of showing love on Mother’s Day! You are indeed blessed to have your mom close by, how I wish that my daughter lived much closer. She wishes that too. The puppet show looked like a blast, and I am so for parents taking time out to be people and a couple… it’s healthy!! Love your affirmations at the end, all good things and I absolutely believe you do them well. The best part is that you realize it, confidence is contagious and children learn from that! 🙂 Wishing you a great week ahead, and many more great rounds of WWF!
Good food, fun, and love – what else do we need, right? I love having my Mom around. My Grandparents were always here, too. I often find it hard to truly comprehend what it must be like for people who don’t have family right nearby. So foreign to me, but it makes me realize how blessed we are.
The puppet show was a riot and a half. I can’t think of a better way to spend a Friday night!
Thanks for the sweet words, Josie. And I’m going to take my WWF turn right now!
Zilla’s awesome. I love her sense of humour.
YAY for your Three Things of Worthwhile. I’m glad you were able to lend an ear. That can be SO important to the person who feels HEARD.
Homemade pizza, meatball sandwiches…wow…you’ve had some really good eating this past week. I’ve not made meatball sandwiches before but that sounds like a great idea.
Glad you’re back with us and that things are well with you 🙂
Oh meatball sandwiches are wonderful. The ones we had tonight we perfect. Zilla said it was the best sandwich she’s ever had. Of course, she says that about five times a week about her dinner, so it’s hard to tell.
And her sense of humor is fantastic. What a card!
Aren’t homemade gifts the best? I’d rather get those than the flowers they get sent home with. They’re always homely looking.
Future plans are exciting!!! It gives you something to look forward to and motivates you. Love that.
Our send-home flower last year did fairly well on the back deck. But I love this one because I can keep it always. Although I have an aunt – no joke – who just shared a photo of the Mother’s Day plant her son brought home from Kindergarten fourteen years ago that is still (unbelievably) alive and blooming in her kitchen. Bizarre!
Future plans are exciting and scary and (right now) very frustrating. I definitely need to get back on the motivated track and not the frustrated one.
I’ll never view hedgehogs in the same way again. 🙂
Nor will the cow finger puppet, I suspect!
Well, hello! That’s a line I am often prompted to deliver while cooking. Maggie tells me to say it when she re-enters the the room, and then Leo pats my thigh with a big grin prompting me to say it to him.
“Steak-loving hedgehogs” had me laughing out loud. Seriously! She’s a comedian, she is.
Such good food around your house! And Darius Rucker, to boot!
Oh, to have my mother close by.
BTW, Maggie just got diagnosed with ADHD (Inattentive). How long til the meds convo crops up?
Wait – what line? I missed something?
Oh, ADHD – letters near and dear to my heart. I guess the meds conversation depends on the people you’re conversing with. We heard it for the first time nearly right away with our first psychologist and our current, but it was more “what are your thoughts” than “you should do this.” And to this point it has been much of the same, really. I’m behind on my reading so I missed stuff on your blog the last week or so – I need to catch up.
In your own time…
The line is “Well, hello.” Sorry to be confusing.
You fixed the spelling of my name!
OK, I thought that’s what it was.
I did fix the spelling! I noticed it when I was answering comments last night – I know you have an “h” so it had to be an inadvertent typo.
A hedgehog?!? That is hilarious.
I’m so happy for you. Clearly, you are most happy when surrounded by your husband and daughter. Sounds like there has been plenty of fun times with them over the past two weeks.
Glad to see you back!
Yup. Hedgehog. Of all the animals she could have picked, I would not have guessed that one.
I am definitely happy around the Hub and Zilla. Guess it shows.
So glad to have you back this week! Sometimes an unintentional break is just what is needed. Before I go any further I must say that the pizza looks AMAZING! It’s 7am and I would eat that this minute.
Cute finger puppets and what a creative mind Zilla has! That is a very good thing 🙂
Thanks, Sandy.
The pizza was amazing. Zilla wanted it again the very next night. Can’t like – I kinda did, too. I think the magic was in the combination of sweet and spicy and salty all together – mine had salami, black olive, pineapple, and pickled jalapenos. So good!
Zilla’s mind continues to amaze and fascinate us.
Looks like quite a good week. And I must say, you’re a great photographer!! Now time for pizza!!
The trick to the photography is delicious subject matter!
Glad to see you’re back 🙂 I kept looking for your “thankfuls”.. Your list is definitely a lot to be thankful for! I’m happy you had a great Mother’s Day, and creative kids are always awesome! Our Lily is quite morbid, too, sometimes. I think it’s funny 🙂 Have a great new week, Lisa!
Thanks, Stephanie. I really missed it, but each time I thought about sitting to do it, something else came up so it just wasn’t going to happen. I decided to go with Thoreau’s thinking that “a man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone.” I’m sure that’s not quite what ol’ Henry David had in mind, but that’s my story and I’m sticking to it!
Glad to know there is another child out there with a slightly twisted sense of humor! I really can’t help but think she’s hysterical…here’s hoping all her future teachers do as well!
Have a great week, too!
Love this, Lisa! “Steak eating hedgehogs.” Zilla is quite the comedienne!
Glad to hear you had a nice Mother’s Day. I’m with you on the flower thing. Once in awhile would be okay, but really, I’d rather they buy me something I can eat or wear.
Are you and the Fab Hub the same age? My husband and I are, so we have mostly the same music memories, even though our tastes were far from identical. How nice that the two of you got to spend some quality time, alone, and just visit like that.
On pins and needles, waiting to hear what your future plans are….
I know! That cracked me up! And I’m with you on the eating-type gifts. 🙂
The Hub and I are about the same age, but not quite. He is four years younger. Usually, I actually forget and think he’s older. But when it comes to music and childhood TV shows or books, etc. sometimes that four years seems vast. It’s really fun (for me, at least, to discover things he enjoyed that I really didn’t.
Sit tight…all things in due time. At least that’s what I keep telling myself on my most frustrated days lately!
Steak loving hedgehogs! Oh my…. how did you keep a straight face!? Zilla is really awesome!
We didn’t! She cracks us up on a regular basis. The sad part is that there are occasions where we really should keep a straight face and just can’t. Sometimes one of us just has to walk away.
Did someone say pizza? 😉 Those little puppets are so cute!
Yes, pizza – homemade. It was great!
And the puppets are completely adorable – they were quick and easy to make and we had a blast with them!
Love Z’s imagination, and leftover pesto in the freezer. 😉
Yes – and it’s like the pesto that never ends. We’ve used it for three meals and there is still some left. Who knew a cup would go so far? Think this year I’ll freeze in much smaller batches.
Happy Post! I am just happy I had a block of time this morning to catch up with reading blogs… Dinner tonight- pizza. I will make mine and cowboy can make his and we will both be happy, happy, happy!
Trying to pick through some catch-up reading myself.
That is the best part of homemade pizzas – everybody gets to customize and try a little of something different.