Able to see straight

The headache has finally abated -- not one hundred percent vanished, but more gone than it's been for days and days ... so THANK YOU for all the prayers and comforting thoughts and suggestions. We'll see what tomorrow morning brings.

This afternoon we drove Ian and his friend Truman across town to their mutual friend Christian's birthday party (after which they will spend the night there; wow, it's quiet here tonight). The girls, of course, wanted to stay, and being the mother that I am, unable to resist their disappointment and charms, I took them to Hey Cupcake before coming home. What could be finer, on a Friday afternoon, than chocolate cupcakes with swirls of pink frosting? (I had to buy one in a cute box for Tim, of course. Fuel for the long bike ride home. Can I help it if I put lipstick kisses all over the box while waiting at red lights? I cannot.)


The girls took a bath, using the bubble bath Eliza had made in her "Beautiful, Natural" co-op class. The whole bathroom smells like peppermint. Yum. I might eat those girls for dessert, now. Just a warning of my cannibalistic tendencies when my children smell so delicious.

Then they sat naked by the space heater eating their picnic dinner (omelettes, roasted acorn squash with cinnamon butter). And you know why I just love that? Because my sister and I used to do the same thing, about a century ago. Not so much the eating, our life wasn't THAT decadent, but after a bath we'd huddle in front of the space heater in my parents' bathroom, brushing the minty green shag rug into little circles with our pruney hands to make "families" in front of the "fireplace." These families had all kinds of cozy adventures in front of their fireplace. You know, popping popcorn, reading Dickens aloud, whathaveyou. Eventually our parents would come in and notice our skin glowing fiery pink and heartlessly hustle us into our pajamas.

Maybe this explains my ongoing love affair with the space heater. "You love that thing more than me," my soulmate complains when he opens the bathroom door and finds me guiltily soaking up the post-shower warmth on the very morning the temperature has dropped below 70 degrees.

But I don't notice anyone bringing cupcake offerings to the space heater.



P.S. Literary highlights this week: Still reading through The Witch of Blackbird Pond with Ian (what a gem!); Betsy-Tacy and Tib with Eliza. Oh, the revisited childhood delights! In my secret heart of hearts, maybe this is why I homeschool. Caroline's fave of the week would be Carl's Summer Vacation.