New Books and Updates

Some of you may remember my post last year about Deanna Fei and the blow up at AOL.  She did what writers do and has written a book about her experience and having a micro preemie, who is now a toddler.

Of course this week's (year's/decade's) biggest launch is Harper Lee's "Go Set a Watchman", which is also out tomorrow.  The first chapter has already been released, if you want to catch a peek. (I would advise against listening to Reese Witherspoon read the audio version, as it is pretty annoying). 

I'm taking my copy with me out of town later this week.  I'm headed out to NY to see my sister and friends in Brooklyn and then heading out to the Hamptons.  Sadly, I'm just missing the Hampton Designer Showhouse this year by a few days, as it was fun last time.  But I have lots of other fun on tap.

We are surviving the summer of the mother in law so far.  I am truly the most optimistic (or forgetful or delusional, take your pick) person, as I tried to spin the whole thing as a positive.  Now I find out that much of why she came now is that the communal living situation in India is not working out for her and my brother/sister in law.  I guess they and their daughter/my niece are moving out and getting their own place so the big flat that my later father in law spent so much time planning for all of them (and us) was a bit misguided.  Oh well.

The kids are three and a half now and huge (~3 1/2 ft/35 lbs.) and busy.  I'm buying size five clothes for them now, which makes me wonder where my little ones went and so quickly.  They are fighting potty training (yes, still) with all their inherited strong will, so I hope to not be sending them to kindergarten in pull-ups. 

I've also realized that I never shared their big kid rooms from last summer, so time to clean up and take some pics to share.

Hard to believe the summer is half over already, hope you are having a great one.

Early June Saturdays

My grandmother passed away peacefully on Saturday.  Just as my other grandmother did four years ago this week, when I was pregnant with the twins.  We will be traveling to my parents' hometown again for the services, including the funeral mass at the church where my parents were married 47 years ago.  I've never actually been inside, which seems odd, given all the times I've visited that town.  And save for my grandfather's second wife, who we will visit when we are there, I really have little reason to return to the town where all of my grandparents lived for all of their adult lives, where they raised my parents, and then where they lived (save the Army stint) until my mother was pregnant with me when they moved to WI.  The end of an era.

My grandmother was the eldest daughter of ten (five of each), and she outlived them all save her youngest brother.  She went on to have five of her own (my father was the third, though his older brother died at birth, making him the eldest son).  She had a lousy marriage, or more accurately a lousy husband (and father to mine), which led to their divorce soon after my parents's marriage in the late 60s.  She was a divorcee (and a devout Catholic one at that), before they were commonplace.  She didn't have the benefit of an education, but she was a classy lady and is responsible for all the Frenchie I have in me.  I have so many good memories of all the summer days we spent running around her perfectly kept house and yard. Love and miss you grandma.

Grandma G at 93

Me (far left) and my sisters with our grandmother

August 1980

Yesterday, my grandma G turned 93 and also entered hospice, or so I found out when I got up this morning.  We were up to see her over Easter, but then just before we were up again to celebrate her birthday last weekend, she'd broken her second hip, so she was much worse than when we'd seen her last.

Easter goodbyes

She'd broken her first hip the week before our visit at Thanksgiving, but unlike last year, she isn't having surgery to fix this side.  When we visited her then in the hospital post-op, I wasn't sure I would see her again as she was in grim condition, it was very difficult.  But she hung on, she's a fighter.

She has been suffering from dementia for several years and had been in assisted living near my father/her eldest son for those and until this last fall.  She is in a lot of pain, which is being more actively managed now that she is receiving hospice care, but she was very happy that we came up to celebrate and she loves the kids.  It makes me sad that her children are on such crappy terms (my dad is second of four, spread out from CA to WI, OH, and FL) and that her eventual passing will likely bring even greater discord, if that is possible.  She is a sweet person who has had a tough life and I hope she knows how much we love her and that she is at peace here and on the other side.

Summer of the mother in law

I am lucky and have a lovely MIL.  She is sweet and loves us and lives on the other side of the planet.  She came to live with us for a few months after the kids were born (which is Indian de rigeur) and is now coming back on Monday for the first time since then and staying until October. It's her third long visit since I've been around, the first was when she came w/my late FIL for our wedding here.

Now that the kids are bigger and "easier", meaning I could leave them with her for short periods, we are looking forward to what this will mean for all of us.  Lots of home cooked Indian meals for DH, more date nights for us, re-imagining the kids summer schedule to spend more time w/grandma, and maybe thinking about trying to go back to work for me (contrary to plan, I haven't worked outside the home/for money/on my own in four yrs.) and if I do then hiring a nanny (so they can spend time w/grandma, but have someone to care for them full time and cart them around since MIL doesn't drive).  DH is looking at new projects for the business, so it's going to be a busy summer.

We thought about getting a minivan, since each of our vehicles really only carry the four of us (the twins moved to Pinnacle car seats a few months ago, which are great but huge and take almost the entire back seat), but figure we will likely rarely all go out together, that we'll just take both cars or rent when needed.  I learned to drive in a minivan and have nothing against them, it just seems like an excessive amount of space, since so much of the time it is just the three of us (the kids and I) tooling around.

We have yet to finalize our summer travel plans, but we may all go out East (Maine is up this year, which we love), or more likely now since MIL will be here just do a family beach trip to Michigan and I will go out East (to see my sister in NYC et al) by myself.

We recently met Alistair's first girlfriend at a concert at the library. ;)

Getting their grooves on...

We went to the first outdoor Green City Market of the spring.

Thank goodness for dandelions...

The kids had their first silhouette portraits drawn recently, which I've been waiting for them to be big enough to do (they need to be able to sit for a few minutes, but they also have to outgrow some of the normal baby face chub for it to look like anything).  They did great!  Mother's Day gifts for me and my mom done.  The artist, Terry Bramble, has been doing them for over 50 years...

 

The finished products... LOVE!  Now to find the elusive oval frames.

They finish up their first full year of preschool next week, but then it is on to camp (which is what they still call school since they started there last summer).  Happy Summer!

Four years ago today

We brought our little bitties home and they snuggled in...

Collaboration Nation

Hang onto your wallets ladies because some of the better designer collaborations I've seen in awhile are all happening NOW.  Well, John Robshaw for Uniqlo is already live and Lilly for Target and Milly for Kohls debut April 19th and 23rd, respectively.

I guess it's not that surprising that some of JR's most distinctive signature textiles are being translated for his line at Uniqlo.  I just can't wait until we finally get our own store here this fall...

I'm forever a lover of Target (I grew up in Target land) and their collaborations, and Lilly (which I've loved for decades) is no different.  I have a feeling this line is going to disappear quickly.  I've stocked Mari's Lilly for this summer (they have awesome sales and then it is super easy to unload here), but I'll probably be squeaking in a few of these toddler girl pieces...

Milly (by Michelle Smith) for DesigNation at Kohls is a little bit edgier twist on Milly, though these two are decidedly not, though very cute.

The place where time stood still

So we made the trip up north for a longish Easter weekend, which is always interesting.  Like every other weekend, my mom watched my sister's kids (and their dog), while she and my brother in law (and my step-dad) worked hospital shifts.  So a few days into the two barking dogs/six kids/too much chaos for a small house, I had to get out and go for a drive...

Just tooling around, I noticed that the house we used to live in (from when I was 3-8) was for sale, it turns out for the first time since my mother sold it exactly 30 yrs ago.  So we just had to look up the listing and oddly it is almost completely as it was back then. Like a time capsule or something. (A bit of trivia, Ann Landers (Eppie Lederer) used to live down the block in a similar little house when her husband worked for my step-great grandfather. Her sister, Dear Abby, was married to my step-mother’s cousin.) So wild...

This one was my younger sister's and my room.  It was actually the dining room that was converted, with two doors (and a closet to the left), so the house was circular and we could run around it endlessly.  I'll spare you the bright orange carpet from the basement.

But beyond the kitchen and carpet (the late 70s/early 80s may have been one of the worst times for design ever), my mom even put that wallpaper in the bathroom.  I have a million memories made here: playing in the yard and climbing the swing set like a monkey, dancing with my mom in the kitchen, watching my dad in his huge workshop in the back of the garage (pre-divorce), learning to ride a bike in the driveway and endless circles around the block (and venturing the block to dairy queen and the gas station for candy), our friends down the block who had a tree house, and the only years I shared a bunk bed with my younger sister.

I applaud my mother for making this a happy house for us, given it was the years +/- the divorce.  I barely remember my parents being together, as even when they still were my father was usually in the workshop when he wasn't at work.  So when they finally split, life for us (well for me anyway) didn't seem that different in this house.

Part of me understands why people would want to raise their kids in a house they grew up in, but as I told my best friend from elementary school when we ran into each other at the park while I was home, I just can't even imagine living in this town again.  It's a touchstone, but one in a far off (closed off) world forever sealed in my memory.  Kind of like this little white house.