The Good Life

2011 Year of Pleasures #22

June 2, 2011

During my weekend in Sacramento I wandered around town checking off a list of all my favorite things. Coffee shop hot chocolate? Check. Fancy pastries? Check. Independent bookstore? Check. And of course, whenever I’m at a tourist trap I can count on having access to my favorite – caramel apples. The section of Sacramento our hotel was in is totally touristy – I spent one whole morning dodging kids on a field trip – and there were three different candy stores with barrels full of taffy within two blocks. But I let the smell of kettle corn guide me, because I knew that where kettle corn is, a caramel apple can’t be far behind.

Filed Under: The Good Life, Year of Pleasures

Sacramento

June 1, 2011

Today is my first day back to real life. Bear’s back at work, Atti’s back at school, and I’m scrambling to get a blog post up before I have to rush off for an appointment. But actually, I’m so excited by it. This vacation was long and complicated and so tiring. Fun, but the kind where by the end you are craving order and routine even more than sleep.

We started our trip by having Bear’s parents come visit in order to watch Atti while we went to Sacramento for a work conference. It’s hard to pry them away from their schedule, so I spent a lot of time over the last couple of weeks getting things prepared for them and trying to make the visit as comfortable as possible. Nice sheets and towels, roses and a decanter of water by the bed, muffins and brownies on the counter, homemade dinner of chicken fried steak with all the fixings before we headed out. I wanted to entice them into coming around more often.

Then Bear and I went off for a couple of days by ourselves. He spent the days at the kind of leadership conference where they spend a lot of time talking about ‘paradigm shifts’ and boxes you should think outside of, while I wandered around the city, treating myself to all my favorite things, and got in a little writing time.

My favorite part was having some great meals all by myself in some beautiful locations. It can be a real treat to not only go wherever you want to go without consideration for anybody else, but to also not have to interact when you get there. One of my meals was right on the river, and from my table I took this picture of this crazy drawbridge.

From Sacramento we drove down the coast for a couple of days at the beachhouse with Bear’s parents, and then drove further down the coast for a visit with a favorite cousin. I loved everything we did and everyone we saw, but by the end of it I wanted to go back to those quiet lunches in Sacramento where I didn’t have to say a word.

Filed Under: The Good Life

Getaway

May 31, 2011

Sorry to run out on you all without explanation, but I was dragged away to a place with no internet access. Somehow I made it through.

Filed Under: The Good Life

2011 Year of Pleasures #21

May 25, 2011

A bigger bed means new, bigger, sheets. And I happened to walk into Big Lots when they had all of theirs on super sale. So for less than it would cost to get a cheap set, I got some super high thread count Egyptian cotton fancypants sheets that are just heaven. With that freshly laundered sheet smell.

It is getting harder and harder to get out of bed.

Filed Under: The Good Life, Year of Pleasures

I’m going to UGANDA!

May 25, 2011

Rose, our friend from this video, is in need of a home. So I’m going to Gulu as part of a group to build her one.

I’m also going as a board member of the charity, to learn more about the community, the culture, the economy, so I can be better informed about how I can help.

But first, I need to raise $1000 more. The flight is incredibly expensive, the room and board is expensive, and I need to contribute to Rose’s house. And I just need to raise $1000 more. So I need your help.

I’ll be leaving July 3rd, so that gives me just under 6 weeks to raise it. Internet friends, you have come through for me so many ways before, I knew you’d help me out again here.

If you’d like to contribute, just send some money through paypal to my email address, tresa at reesedixon dot com. Please consider giving anything you can. If every reader even gave 1$ we’d have it collected in a matter of hours.

What Rose has lived through is beyond the imagination of most of us. There is so much need in the world, this is something tangible and measurable that we can do to meet that need, and something we can offer to Rose to show her that there is more good in the world than the evil she’s been subjected to.

Filed Under: Do-gooding, Grand Schemes and Other Plans, The Good Life

I’m gonna do it.

May 19, 2011

While Atti’s been in school, I’ve been sneaking away to a coffee shop to bury my nose in a book and a hot chocolate. And the book I’ve been reading is Story by Robert McKee, which is widely considered to be the best ever book on how to write something.

I’ve written and written and written over the years about wanting to be a writer, and now I am one. In a way I never expected, and writing about things I never imagined I would. Being a writer about religion was a twist I did not see coming. I always imagined I’d write literary fiction.

And now is my time to try. I’ve wound up with opportunities that leave me no room for excuses, and the confidence to give it a go. I am going to write a book this year. I’m going to.

The book I have in mind would deal with Mormon themes, and next year is probably going to be a big year for Mormons. Right now it looks like Mitt Romney and John Huntsman are going to run for president, and Glenn Beck is always out there making news. The Book of Mormon musical just opened and is going like gangbusters. All my writer friends are telling me that it’s impossible to get a book published right now unless it’s about vampires, but I think Mormons might be the next best thing.

I have my work cut out for me, but I think now might just be the time to make my dreams come true.

Filed Under: Grand Schemes and Other Plans, The Good Life

2011 Year of Pleasures #20

May 17, 2011

For years I’ve had over there on the sidebar the goal of building a headboard. But as I started making plans, and Atti and the cats kept growing, I realized that I shouldn’t build a headboard until we upgraded to a King sized mattress.

That day finally came and the whole family is overjoyed. I found a crazy crazy good deal, so we went with a really high quality, pillow top, fanciness, and every time I get into it I can’t help but let out a big sigh. The quality of my life has just doubled, I swear.

Atti likes it because it’s great for being tossed onto.

Filed Under: Atticus, The Good Life, Year of Pleasures

The Wheels on the Bus Take My Baby Away

May 11, 2011

The big day finally arrived. After months and months of waiting for red tape, and insurance baloney, and meeting with all the people who had to give approval, we finally got on the route to have Atti bussed to school. It’s a day I’ve been looking forward to bittersweetly, knowing it would be hard to watch him go off without me, but also excited to have more time to myself and less driving all over the place.

The morning did not go exactly as I planned. We sang wheels on the bus and talked about what would happen and all the friends he would see, and then, Catastrophe. I wheeled him out the front door to wait for the bus, turned around to grab the camera and Atti rolled off, hit the grass, and rocketed forward right onto his face.

I freaked right out and raced to pick him up, and right then is when the bus pulled up. I tried to coo and snuggle to calm him while Bear wiped the blood off of his lip, but the busdriver was unfazed. He just went about his business strapping in while I frantically sang songs and snapped pictures and acted happy and Atti screamed. He just said, “Don’t worry, he’ll get used to it,” shooed me off the bus, and drove away.

I went inside all teary, paced around the house for an hour, snacked on food I didn’t want to eat because I didn’t know what to do with myself, and finally settled down for work. Just in time to get a phone call from Atti’s teacher telling me that his face was covered in fresh scratches and that he wanted to make sure I knew nothing happened at school. I wanted to crawl in a hole. “no,” I told him, “I did that.” Oh the shame!!

He made it home in one peace, shouting “Buh Bye!” to the busdriver as soon as he saw me. He seems to have made it through his harrowing morning without a crippling life long fear of riding the bus. The busdriver told me that every time the bus went over a bump or swayed from side to side, Atti would burst out laughing. Laughing with every bump in the road. Is this my kid, or what?

Filed Under: Are you kidding me?, Atticus, mama musings, The Good Life

2011 Year of Pleasures #19

May 10, 2011

I had a fantastic Mother’s Day this year. Atti and I ended up staying home from church, staying in bed for snuggles and storytime, and then when Bear came home he waited on me hand and foot, cooking anything I wanted and giving me all the time I needed to play with my Mother’s Day present – a new stack of puzzles. Oh why does it have to come only once a year?

Filed Under: The Good Life, Year of Pleasures

Zoo Day

May 9, 2011

I finally managed to harass Bear enough to take a day off of work during the last week of Atti’s school break, so we decided to make a day of it and go to the zoo.

It was our first big expedition with the wheelchair, so as we were buying tickets to get in I asked the cashier about their disability access. He looked at Atti in his chair and said, “Oh! Hang on a second!” and rang us in over again. I never would have thought to ask, but we got a major discount! Atti’s ticket was cheaper, and I got in for almost nothing as a “caretaker” discount. Super A+ Sacramento Zoo!

My duties as caretaker mainly involved pushing the empty chair around while Bear carried Atti everywhere. In his chair he came right up to handrail level, so he was missing out on most of the sights. But with his dad he had a great time looking at the funny, smelly, birds.

But really, all he wanted to do was ride the carousel, which was of course not included in the entry fee. As soon as he saw it, he could not be dissuaded. He didn’t really want to listen to me trying to take a teaching moment to talk about waiting our turn. Instead he just wanted to yell at the people standing in front of us. But I suppose any communication is better than none, right?

Filed Under: Atticus, mama musings, The Good Life

2011 Year of Pleasures #22

Sacramento

Getaway

2011 Year of Pleasures #21

I’m going to UGANDA!

I’m gonna do it.

2011 Year of Pleasures #20

The Wheels on the Bus Take My Baby Away

2011 Year of Pleasures #19

Zoo Day

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