Busy Week

My days of lolling about last week are behind me. I was back in class last night and will be again tonight. It was actually quite nice to be back. I have a tendency to look at this program with a count down kind of attitude (ok, if I can take X number of classes per semester I’ll be out this quickly; after the summer I’ll be a quarter of the way through; etc.). I’ll be happier, though, if I recognize and appreciate the enjoyment I’m getting out of the process as I’m in it.

And in the meantime, I’m still managing (albeit with exhaustion on some days) to keep up with most if not all of my personal life. I’m 3/4 of the way through Watchmen right now, and I think Todd and I will see the movie this weekend. Also this week is the last show of my subscription to Roundabout and an outing with Todd and a couple of friends to see a sci fi opera. It’s a lot to fit in to a single week, but all of it sounds great, and I’m looking forward to it. Reviews of much of this to come!

Shelves!

Todd and I spent Saturday putting up the shelves we got at Ikea. The first shelf, of course, took the longest and included several trips to the hardware store in order to get space-aged screws that would actually bite into the studs hidden here, there, and everywhere in the walls. Todd really proved himself better than Bob Vila, though, and not only are these shelves up, they are not coming down--ever. The are as secure as secure can be. And when I wanted to take a nap halfway through the day, Todd made us power through. I'm so glad he did, because we put up every shelf we had. We still want to buy a couple for the bathroom and bedroom, but that includes another trip to to the Swedes or perhaps a more local run to Home Depot.

Seeing these empty shelves makes the whole moving in process seem more real. Even though we've been planning the big move for a while, until we started adjusting the apartment it somehow still felt far away. Now I realize that it's happening in 5 weeks, which isn't actually so far from now. I think next weekend I'll start packing. I really don't feel like living amongst boxes for ages, but I think the time has come. I've already brought over about 50% of my kitchen, and my clothes have gradually been moving in for a while, too. My fingers are crossed that what's left will be easy to pack up.

Mourning Natasha Richardson

Last Year I saw Vanessa Redgrave give an amazing, heartfelt performance in The Year of Magical Thinking. Though I had quibbles with the show, there was something profound about Redgrave’s performance of a woman dealing with the loss of her husband and daughter.

With Natasha Richardson’s very sad passing, that show keeps coming back into my head. I just keep thinking about the emotional reserves Redgrave must have tapped into to play Joan Didion each night and the way she lived—for the run of the show—as a childless mother. Did that experience prepare her in any small way to deal with her own daughter’s death? Will knowing Didion and Didion’s experience so intimately provide any kind of guide for how to get through this?

It’s probably a small and weird thing to be focusing on here, but it’s easier to ponder than all the ways we’re apparently always at death’s door. By the news accounts to-date, Richardson’s fall was a normal one, not some Sonny-Bono-into-a-tree sort of scenario. Everyone who has learned to ski has fallen plenty, and I never once wore a helmet all the times I went skiing in Vermont. No one else on the slopes was wearing one either. And it’s not just skiing; freak accidents like this suggest that the wrong tumble at any time or place could do a person in. I think that’s part of the reason why Richardson’s death has gotten so much media coverage and seems to have captured people’s attention. For all the resilience we have, we’re simultaneously extraordinarily frail.

Big Move

As some of you have already heard, there are some exciting cohabitation developments on my horizon. At the end of April, I’ll be moving in with Todd! I can’t wait to live with him. I feel really lucky and grateful to be with him, and it’ll be even better to be together in the same space.

I dread packing. It’s a good prompt for me to clean out the closets and purge some of the miscellaneous crap I’ve accumulated, but it’s also a major pain in the ass. In related news, if any of my NYC readers are looking for some furniture, I have some to give away. Leave me a comment or email me and I can fill you in on all the details.

Writer's Block

WTF did I used to write about everyday? I find myself with a few free minutes right now, and I can’t think of one interesting thing to post about. I’ve seen no movies to review and no recent plays. I’m almost finished reading a book I’ve enjoyed, but it was the literary equivalent to a bag of chips (enjoyable but no nutritional value) and doesn’t really warrant a full write-up. Homework seems too boring to update you all on (in the midst of midterms—so exciting). I’m at a loss.

Todd and I are continuing to love the slow cooker, and tonight’s dinner is cooking up for us even as I write this. Tonight we’re having dijon chicken with spinach. My hopes are high. I’m also in the midst of a love affair with persimmons, and if anyone sees them at their local market, I highly recommend picking some up. Camilla continues to head butt me to show her affection, and I continue to struggle to recognize crazy people talking to themselves versus potentially sane people talking on the BlueTooths. Really, there’s not much to write about.

Chili!

Todd and I had our first successful outing with the crock pot yesterday. We made some delicious chili that we loved and that both kids actually ate—that’s no small success! We worked off the recipe in the free cookbook that came with the slow cooker, making our own amendments along the way (the big one was substituting ground chicken for ground beef). We threw it all together, went out to play basketball with Dylan (that’s right. I’m sporty.) and came home several hours later to a great meal. So far, we love the crock pot!

What a Crock

Yesterday, in our adventures in shopping, Todd and I picked up a crock pot. We're constantly devising ways to try to make cooking at home more enticing and are hoping that this new gadget and our subsequent ability to come home to ready-made meals will help us forgo restaurants. It came with a little cookbook of slowly-cooking recipes, but I'd love to know of any favorites meals you slow cookers out there have. Send 'em my way, and thanks!