domestic drudge

The other day we were eating our dinner outside. It was unseasonably warm, and we decided to get out the porch furniture so that we could enjoy the nice weather. Our neighbors were on the porch as well. They asked what we were eating, and we told them chicken and artichoke stew. The mom replied, gesturing to her son and daughter,"Wow. I bet you wish you were eating that, kids."

Now, chicken and artichoke stew is nothing fancy. You cook the chicken in a skillet, add some carrots and onions, add some flour and chicken broth, and finish with the artichokes. We usually have it with rice. But her comment got me thinking about how unpleasant this whole social distancing thing must be for people who hate to cook. I feel like - COVID-19 or not - dinner is the bright part of our day. I look forward to making something - new or old - having a glass of wine and chatting over dinner. If you didn't like cooking, though, this whole corona thing, which is already pretty unpleasant, would be downright awful.

So, for anyone wishing for inspiration, I give you the link to Martha Stewart's Everyday Foods (the magazine from which we got the chicken and artichoke stew recipe) - https://www.marthastewart.com/274264/everyday-food-recipes. We've gotten a lot of good recipes from here, including this one which we have with margaritas - a necessity during a pandemic.

Keep sweeping,
Martha

sun on the carpet

The world has been moving way too fast lately, and I feel as though I haven't been able to catch up. The fall was hard. The spring was harder. And now, we're headed into summer, which I hope will just be nothing but lovely.

In these moments, I tell myself to breath. And, I hold tight to the little things.

Boy Beeton and I stumbled upon this Little Free Library on the way to a birthday party. These gems are scattered throughout our neighborhood, but this one was particularly sweet.

Mr. Beeton was reading poems by Charles Bukowski. I'd never read Bukowski, but I definitely had a clearly formed image of him from my graduate school days. I opened the book to this poem, which took me by surprise. Completely at odds with the poet I thought I knew and so expressive of my own feelings about parenthood. 

Marina
majestic, magic
infinite
my little girl is
sun
on the carpet-
out the door
picking a flower, ha!
an old man,
battle-wrecked,
emerges from his
chair
and she looks at me
but only sees
love,
ha!, and I become
quick with the world
and love right back
just like I was meant
to do.

Keep sweeping,

Martha

Read My Name Is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout. Watched Carol. Watching Catastrophe. 

we're having...

...snow much fun!

Keep shoveling,
Martha

Watched Sofia Coppola's Somewhere. Finished reading Lauren Groff's Fates and Furies. 

my view at dusk

Today was a good day.

I haven't been able to say that for a while now. When my pericarditis hit this fall (update soon, I promise), I didn't realize how much it was affecting me physically or emotionally until the cardiologist finally said I needed to take it seriously. I had thought - as I did after Boy Beeton was born - that I was just an inadequate mother. I had thought - because I was so tired all the time - that I was just selfish. I had thought - because I had no patience for anything or anyone - that I was just a bad person. But, it was just the illness, which on top of being physically painful, was also making me tired and depressed.

I know this because today was a good day. I woke up with energy. I played with Boy Beeton this morning. I put away the porch furniture. We went to school. I took a walk. I graded. After school, we picked up some groceries. When we got home, we played soccer in the yard until it got dark. I made dinner. We had a dance party. I calmly dealt with a before bed tantrum. I was myself again.

Keep sweeping,
Martha

Watched The Peanuts Movie.

boo

2015 shots of Halloween... and an oldie but goodie. "The sun will come out..."

Keep sweeping,
Martha

Read Mary Higgins Clark The Melody Lingers On.

inside/outside

Keep sweeping,
Martha

a grain of sand

We got a sandbox this weekend, and it is already changing my life. Boy Beeton played happily while I read Roiphe. Today, he and our neighborhood friend S played while S's mom and I enjoyed a glass of wine. Cheers to a summer of this!

Keep sweeping,
Martha

warm woolen mittens

March has never been the easiest month around here. And this winter has been particularly hard. We've been slogging through, overwhelmed by ridiculous administrative work, preschool decisions, job interviews, and defense scheduling.

It's times like these that you need to focus on the simple things and breathe.

Sewing draft blockers

Roasting vegetables

Eating lots of "jolly soup" (i.e. homemade vegetable soup)

Newspaper wrapping

Coloring

Heavy whipping cream in coffee (accidentally)

Keep sweeping,

Martha

Watching The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

longest/shortest

I don't want this video to be a metaphor for parenting, but I think it might be.

Today was almost spring-like. We spent it baking Valentine cookies and practicing riding our tricycle.

Keep sweeping,

Martha

Read Superfudge by Judy Blume and The Uncoupling by Meg Wolitzer. Watched Disney's Peter Pan and Lost In Translation (again). 

just like the ones i used to know

So glad I didn't take my tree down yet. There's something about snow outside and twinkling lights inside that makes the days seem easier.

Keep sweeping, Martha

Watched In A World.

life lately

We finally got our dining room painted, and we rehung these shelves so we could showcase this glassware.

While we aren't in preschool yet, we've been enjoying more group activities... soccer, for one. Go Turkeys!

And nature class with the Community School...

Boys in the woods

Friends

And weekly storytime with our favorite librarians at the Takoma DC Library, followed by lunches at Soupergirl. (Of course, that's Boy Beeton's favorite place to eat.)

Lantern, spider, snow globe, and falling down man

And some Halloween decorating...

And so very many good books!

Keep sweeping, Martha

Watched This Is Where I Leave You and The One I Love.

so this happened

swatch watch

mccormick and schmick's

republic happy hour

brunch at bread & chocolate - twice

drybar bethesda

georgetown cupcakes

lucky strike bowling

the friends

the family

the exhibit

If this, my friends, is forty, I'll take it. 

Keep sweeping, Martha

life lately

cherry blossoms on their way

my recent pastime

garden fun

only boring people are bored

Keep sweeping, Martha

boo

Happy belated Halloween from your friends on Quackenbos Street!

some type of way

We've been in some serious denial that summer is over here on Quackenbos Street. But, now that Labor Day has come and gone, I think it's time to face the facts - even if select splash parks in D.C. are still open. 

In these waning summer days, I noticed more and more people posting on Facebook about things that they were pleased to note they had finally crossed off their "summer bucket lists." I find the whole concept of a bucket list to be perverse (who wants to actively think about their impending doom?), but I did want to post about a few places that were especially special to us this summer - places that we visited more and more as the impending first day of school loomed.

Trohv - I cannot even explain the magic that is Trohv. If you haven't been, you need to hop on the red line and head on up there. After all, where else can you find an A-Treat soda bottle carrier that you'll transform into bathroom wall art? (Yes, you read that correctly.)

Pleasant Pops - This place was one of my most favorite summertime haunts - the pop shop! (Thanks, MB, for tipping us off to it!) When you combine it with a picnic in Meridian Hill Park, nothing says summer more. 

Van Buren Playground - Yes, folks. The playground is finally open! We'd been dreaming about it all summer, and I have to say that the final product is waaaay better than what we imagined. We spent so much time there the past few weeks that I think the maintenance men thought we had set up permanent camp in the little treehouse. And, again, when combined with a picnic... aaahhh. As Baby Beeton would say, "This is the life!"

AFI Silver Theater - How did we not know this was in our backyard? Mr. Beeton and I had a date night not too long ago (only the second of the entire summer... a crime, I know). We followed it up with a drink at Sidebar. I had a "Tennis Is More Interesting When You're Drunk" in honor of the U.S. Open. It had Pimm's in it, and you know how I feel about that.

Takoma Park Farmers' Market - We loved going to market all summer. Frequently, the much anticipated La Mano coffee bar would host pop-ups, and we could shop for fresh veggies while drinking cold brewed coffee. Baby Beeton loves, loves, loves the yogurt drinks and guitar player. And, this past week, we did our best to convince our former neighbors-now-friends that they really need to move here (please, please, please! we'll watch your cats when you take trips... er... I mean vacations).

When I think of summer 2013, these are the places that I'll think of... the places that make me "drop down to my knees, thankful for life today." If you can guess who made that quote famous, I'll buy you a cold-brewed coffee.

Keep sweeping, Martha

Watched Blue Jasmine.

 

just because i'm losing

Um... how did it get to be August 2nd?

I always have this feeling once August hits. No matter how much time summer offers, it never seems like enough. And, inevitably when August hits, I start to mentally list all the things I didn't accomplish. Book. Check. Article. Check. Conference proposal. Check. To be honest, I don't know where the time goes. It seems as though pre and post Baby Beeton this was always the dilemma. It's amazing how doing nothing takes up so much time.

I can't complain. I know. I'm privileged to have a stretch of time without teaching. To think. To research. To read. To write. To blow bubbles.

This morning, in an effort to remain positive, I tried to focus on the things that I did accomplish - the things aside from tent tea parties and trips to Opal Daniels Park. I remember when the summer started, saying to our babysitter, "When you come back in the fall, you won't even recognize this house!" I knew it was a bold statement to make, and as I look around today, I realize that she will, very much so, recognize this house - its broken dining room light fixture, the rooms yet to be painted, the cracked kitchen floor. But, I also know that there are a host of things that we did do that she might not notice but are significant... at least to me.

What follows is a list of summer time accomplishments...

1) A brick border in the front garden.

2) An organized front hall closet.

3) A painted downstairs bathroom.

4) A clean downstairs bathroom.

5) A new downstairs bathroom curtain - made by me (with turquoise ball trim!).

6) A newly hung Kate Spade shower curtain in the downstairs bathroom.

7) A chevron futon in the playroom.

8) A painted and organized desk.

9) New playroom curtains.

10) An organized closet for Baby Beeton.

11) New bedside table lamps in the master bedroom.

12) New bedside table lamp in the guest bedroom.

13) Newly hung hooks throughout the house to help with organization.

14) Back stairs demolished and new stairs on their way up.

15) Plus, countless smaller organizing projects to clear up living space!

To be honest, I think when people visit our house, they tend to forget just what we were up against. I forget what we were up against. I completely forgot that we had to cut our bed in order to get it up our narrow staircase. I blocked from my mind the night I filled the tub, and there were three dead roaches floating in it. Or the time when a dead mouse was discovered by Ruby in our couch. In focusing on our unpainted dining room, I forgot that we had to clear a significant amount of stuff out of our house from the previous owner, including such things as dirty magazines and forgotten underwear. Here's a few pictures of the severity of our initial situation.

I need to remind myself of these facts when I start to feel down about our lovable little money pit. Even though our basement doors downstairs are half painted, at least we have real carpeting down there and not fake green grass. And, while there may not be curtains hung in the guest room, Baby Beeton has a cute little nursery, lovingly painted by his parents. With no more mice.

Keep sweeping, Martha

Read Down Came the Rain by Brooke Shields.