May Pointless Lists

I've been feeling a little disgruntled lately--I'll post about my minimalistic despair later--so I'm choosing to focus on the positives of the month: We planted our garden, we saw many of our family and friends, we saw our girls happy and healthy and well.

That's the main thing right there. Which is good, 'cause sometimes being optimistic hurts my head. That list is over.

As mentioned earlier, we visited our dear friends Mara and Alex and boys last weekend in Eugene. I've known Mara technically since the fourth grade, although we didn't become friends until our sophomore year of high school. Had I known then what I know now, I would have just marched up to her my first day at Westside Elementary and said, call me Trishy because you're going to anyway, even when I'm 40.

Ah, well.

Hey, amid all the eating and the talking, Mara saved Abby's entire life by taking down the hem of her promotion dress, a gorgeous little thing that her father had deemed "too short." This month Abby learned that tall girls always look to the hem. There is usually all kinds of fabric down there, and in this case, 3-inches worth. Mara made her own wedding dress, so this project was probably almost too easy, but I am serious: She saved the world, and she acted like it was no big deal because she's cool like that.

Also: She took me shoe shopping. We found these. Had we needed to go on a cruise where you just sit around on deck without having to walk anywhere, we totally would have made the purchase. How do people walk in these things? I have no idea.

I'm on the left, Mara is on the right. I was like 6'5". It hurt a lot.

One more also: I got Alex's cold! It's not as much fun as he made it look. Wow, my head hurts. It's kind of amazing that I can form coherent sentences. At least I think I'm forming coherent sentences. There's no one around to ask.

Pointless list time!

Books read:
Um... what? Nothing is coming to mind, except Mara sent me a draft of her *second* novel that I was reading but then for some reason did not finish. That's what June is for.

I have a couple of things on my Kindle I should probably start, except one of them is "I Am Legend" and I'm kind of afraid to read it. Because it's about zombies. Zombies are pretty cute from afar, but I'm not sure how I feel about spending a few hours with them. (Why yes, I AM 40! Why do you ask?)

Garden update:
We have lettuce! Spinach! And we've plucked the fruits (leaves?) of our labor and made salad! There's something very empowering about growing your own food, even if it's just a couple of rows of greens. You know what, The Man? I don't even need you! Um, sorta.

The rest of the garden is looking pretty good. We got 12 tomato starts of various varieties, so that always makes you feel like a rock star right off the bat. The zucchini looks like it might come up this year (last year was dismal--we maybe got four zucchini total. ZUCCHINI, the weed of the garden. It was weird), the carrots look kind of maybe fuzzy, and there are little cilantro leaves pushing through the soil. We've also got beans and dill up there, so keep your fingers crossed kids.

Check this out:
Honest Toddler. You're welcome.

Things I've learned:
Nobody cares that you can take your placenta home now. Sometimes when you wake up and it's sunny outside and you think wearing capris is a good idea, it's really not a good idea. Johanna is not going to get her Doctorate (she announced), but she does give a pretty decent student-led conference. Also, when you schedule your child's student-led conference, maybe look at the calendar first so she doesn't have to miss her very last coach pitch baseball game. I love skirts. Oranges and maple yogurt make a really great breakfast. Hope is hard to squash.