As Promised, On the Lighter Side

Things I Am Loving About Today:

* The smell of fresh-cut potatoes on my hands

I love making my mom's pot roast recipe - with baby carrots and cut potatoes. It cooks all day, and the house smells like Sunday afternoons when I was growing up. I love the way my hands smell after I get it prepared. All day long, no matter how many times I wash them, they carry that faint, starchy scent from the potatoes. It smells fresh and earthy. This might be weird? But it makes me feel normal. Plus, this is one of Big Daddy T's favorite dinners.

* Fresh flowers

The bouquet my neighbor brought over last night is full of white daisies and red carnations. I love daisies - the most easy-going of all flowers. Lovely in their casual beauty. That's a phrase I would love to hear applied to me.

* Being a Girl

My friend, Molly, and her husband have offered to watch the boys on Saturday night while Big Daddy T takes me to his office Christmas party in Reston. This means we have secured an actual Night. Out. We will go to a nice Steakhouse. I will be in a red party dress and fab black heels. I will get to carry a tiny purse, with absolutely no diapers, wipes, toy cars, crayons, tylenol, or emergency candy. I can wear dangly earrings, put sparkly things in my hair, and wear lipstick with abandon. I will get to talk to grown-ups for a whole evening. I am giddy with anticipation.

* Sunshine

'Tis a beautiful day outside, my friends. There's a crisp wind, but the sun is shining and the air is fresh. After preschool pick-up, the boys and I will be hanging the exterior decorations. Mine will be the house with the groovy light-up snowflakes that cycle through blinky patterns, and the kitschy candy cane poles framing the porch. It's total cheese, yes... but it's Christmas. What can ya do?

* Spitting Distance To The Finish Line

After I press "Publish Post" there will officially only be 2 more posts required of me to complete NaBloPoMo. It went by so much faster than I expected - and with so much less pain than I remember last year. I'm sure there's a lot of filler and crap in what I've put out this month, but maybe there's a gem or two in there, as well. You never can be sure, and since I have not yet gone back to re-read any of the posts, I'll have to reserve judgment until it's over.

And last, but not least,

* YOU, dear internets.

Thank you from the bottom of my weepy, bleeding heart for all the kind thoughts. The emails and comments of support about my Gram were incredibly sweet, and made it just a little easier to put that photo up on the shelf last night. I keep thinking of Oh The Joys, and how funny it is that ended up - so quickly - in the position of being the one who wants to think that maybe, just maybe, those people really are looking out at me from that photo. Telling me that they love me, and that everything is just as it should be.