hi. i’ve been gone for a while. but now i’m back in texas. we have a mouse. he poops everywhere. i think i will name him melchizedek. then i will ask the management to kill him.

here is my summer in bullet points. i think everyone appreciates the dichotomy of long-winded efficiency.

• i went to colorado with all of my siblings and their kids. popsicles and mini-ice cream sandwiches were consumed in abundance. games were played. laughs were laughed.
• i read the ladies auxiliary by tova mirvis. at first, i was completely taken by the novel. it centers around an orthodox jewish community in memphis. i have always been fascinated by ritual and religion and belief and tradition. and a corner of my mind has always thought that if i wasn’t mormon, i would probably be an orthodox jew–if they would have me. i ate up all the religious jargon and descriptions of ritual. but, i have to say, the story itself was a big “meh” for me. it felt so very cliche–even the characters felt cliche. and to have the story told from the perspective of “we” was a big hiccup for me. so, every party has a pooper, and apparently that’s me. sorry tova.
• i started listening to blackout by connie willis. (have i mentioned that audible is my favorite thing since hot fudge came in a jar?) i say “started” because i got about six hours into this massive tome and then i just couldn’t take any more. i wanted to scream at my ipod: “what is going on? who cares? what are all these people doing?” i know a while back i said i loved “to say nothing of the dog” but the real truth is, i didn’t love it that much. it was laborious reading. and it all winded around for infinity. but this book is even worse. i would advise you to use it as a karate chopping block. i seriously, seriously regret using one whole credit for this experience.
• on a more positive note, i cannot recommend enough peter dennis’s narration of winnie the pooh. it was a little splurge for our travels this summer and honestly, i can’t think of anything else i would rather have rolling around in my kid’s heads. it teaches humor. empathy. satire. love. loyalty. etc. etc. and peter dennis is masterful. he does all the voices and makes the walt disney version look like what it really is: mass-produced garble.
• i’m now reading the winter sea by susanna kearsely. i know, schmultzy romance. historical shmultzy romance, even. will you like me better or worse if i tell you i love it. love it. love it. i don’t even care. i started reading this book on my mom’s back porch in the rain and read for hours wrapped up in a blanket. and it hit the spot. so if you need some hunky scots and a moody sea, go for it. i won’t stop you.
• i’m also listening to the curse of chalion by lois mcmaster bujold. this author was suggested by a dear college prof and friend of mine. i have not been disappointed. if you are, like me, prone to sci-fi/fantasy–this one is full of everything i like. weird birds. people living in other people’s intestines. and ponies, of course.
• i took a patternmaking class online from the lovely deb of whipstitch. it was fabulous! i’m nearly finished with a set of garments that i designed and made myself. don’t worry, i’ll post pictures soon. so, if anyone needs a skirt or dress designed to exactly fit their body, i’m your woman. (for a small fee, of course.)
• i’m signed up to take the lovely deb’s next class called fall wardrobe. i’m so giddy with anticipation. (it starts tomorrow!) and we’re going to be sewing up a pattern i’ve been lusting after for months: violet by colette patterns. if you don’t sew and you wish you did (because you’re fiercely jealous of my skillz), the lovely deb is teaching essential sewing: zero to stitch in six weeks starting in september. you would not regret it.
• i live in my new house except i can’t find anything because the little pictures i keep in my head to remember where everything is are all smushed together with my mom’s house and my old house and this new house and the tree house that i keep in my dreams. where is that microplane grater?
• it is hot. but i’m learning to deal with it. our neighborhood pool is as hot as a bathtub. so curious that it’s not actually a “cooling off” activity to go swimming.
• i’m going to start working again for smarthinking this fall. i’m a little worried about it, i haven’t done any “work” since before violet was born.
• i painted my toenails red.
• i got a nice haircut.
• i made a cookie pie.

they’re playing taps on the loudspeaker, so that must be a wrap, folks. if i’m not blogging the next few weeks, it’s because i’m making my fall wardrobe or swimming in a giant bathtub or i’m at my sister’s new house helping her put up wainscoting. but whatever it is, you better believe i’ll be having more fun than you. (heh.)

we’ve lived here at lackland for a little over a week now. let me help you visualize. you wind down a back road, come into a very small subdivision sort of place. all the houses are essentially the same and painted in coordinating shades of yellow, gray, and blue. the lawns are manicured. the grass is greener than most of the grass in san antonio. every time i walk outside i almost expect all the doors to open and for my neighbors to break into a choreographed chorus of “good morning, good afternoon, and goodnight.” it hasn’t happened yet, but i will keep you informed.

i hear birds besides grackles. i’m not afraid to let henry ride his bike in the front. we have friendly neighbors who wave and say hello. in short, i love it here. i expect i’ve watched enough episodes of “mash” to make this all sort of romantic.  i don’t miss that extra 1000 square feet we had hanging around. and i like hearing the national anthem at five. and the occasional waves of taps in the evening. as long as i don’t drive through the training ground while the new recruits are practicing maneuvers with their orange rubber M-16s, i’m good.

they’re loading up the truck and i’m sitting on the floor. we have new keys. joe took my flower pots and put them next to our new front porch. we really are moving. and, excuse me for my emotional swings, but it feels really good. i don’t know whether you believe in divine inspiration, but i do, and that’s why i’m moving and i’m pretty sure that’s why (and how) i feel so peaceful about all this upheaval.

the other reason i feel so peaceful is because my sister has my kids in houston. i know. can you believe that? she is feeding and entertaining my kids for four days. four days! i haven’t felt this quiet in about four years.

how do you thank a sister like that? a sister who would take on your family? a sister who would help you in such a big way when you feel like your life is a wave that is going to take you away?

any ideas?

p.s. (thank you, sar. you are, in fact, saving my life.)

i have two days left to get ready to move across town. we’re looking forward to a much shorter commute for joe. but i keep wandering around the house, overwhelmed with everything i have left to do, and thinking, what am i doing? whose idea was this, anyway?

we all know that i am one of the world’s worst movers. it takes me a long time to feel like there isn’t a conspiracy at the grocery store. a long time to feel like my neighbors are real people and not spies sent specifically to set off fireworks on random non-holidays so that i can’t sleep.

it’s silly to dwell on. i should probably think about things i’m good at, like arranging the books on the shelves so that they’re comfortable. you know, so that dante doesn’t have to sit next to a young adult novel. or so that winnie the pooh doesn’t have to be near crime and punishment. i am also very good at keeping track of toy parts. i can put together a pretty mean marble run. i can make thai coconut curry out of anything. (as long as i have coconut milk. there’s not much that substitutes for coconut milk.)

i can also read novels while my children are having a pillow fight with me. for instance, just this morning i finished assassin’s quest while henry was alternating between tickling my feet and whacking me with a pillow. it’s the third book in a trilogy. and. well. the series had so much potential. but the first person narration was so tight, i felt like i was suffocating. i got tired of 1000+ pages of listening to the thoughts of an absolute idiot. i really wish that it had been written in third person omniscient. the point of view so constricted the story that everything interesting was happening somewhere else. and then to spend all those pages and not even ever tie up the red ship raiders. sigh. so many loose ends.

but, in happier book news, i started listening to this narration of dune by frank herbert and i am riveted. here, at last, is epic fantasy! plot. characters. weird creatures. well-written. well-paced. brilliant. brilliant. brilliant. i try to only listen a little bit each day because i’m afraid of the end. then it will be over. and what will i do?

(unpack, i guess.)

i can see now why people use that little random number generator thingy to pick winners for the giveaways!. really, i loved all your answers so much. i won’t bore you with all the strange and meandering thoughts i’ve had about this particular event; let’s cut to the chase.

here is the name i’ve picked for miss bernina 1001:

gigi berniece nina roxanne boo-yah maude she-rah jane

i’m going to declare miriam the winner because she suggested the name (gogo) that inspired me to choose the name gigi. it’s like gogo, but sounds spunkier and still makes me think of white go go boots.

however, in the interest of fairness and because i’m so happy my air conditioner is fixed, i really am going to send you all something. (really.) it might take me a while since we’re moving in a week, but it will come. never fear. so please email me your snail mail address (if you don’t have my email, use the contact form) and if you have little girls please send their waist measurement and the distance from navel to knee. and i’m still sending you something, even if you were too chicken to enter. (yes, i’m talking to you sarajane.)

get excited!