melancholy miscellany monday

1) I sat down to start this post yesterday and had a complete brain block. No idea what to write, whatsoever. Luckily the block eventually passed and I seem to have recovered.

2) Well, actually I can explain why I had the brain block. I had just found out that a college friend's baby boy died unexpectedly. What can I say? It's every parent's worst nightmare. I don't know how a mother can move on after losing a baby, and I hope she and her husband are coping as well as possible. It doesn't seem fair that my life moves on today, just as it's been, when someone else is in such pain.

Kate, a lot of people are thinking about you, mourning with you, and wishing you the best.

The rest of this post seems trivial now.

3) Celia helped assemble valentines for all her little friends yesterday. She "wrote her name" on each card,

and put a sticker on each envelope.

4) The other thing we did for excitement yesterday was go through the car wash. Yep. We wanted to get out of the house but didn't really have a plan. My car was so dirty- covered in salt- so we thought Celia might like going through a car wash. She looked a little concerned while we were going through with everything brushing against the car, but as soon as it was over she wanted to do it again!

5) I have a new addiction. It's not good. I've never been a soda drinker and I'd like to keep it that way, but this stuff is so good. It has natural flavoring (actually listed in the ingredient list) and that makes such a big difference.

6) I cracked up at this picture of celia swigging green juice, leaning with her elbow propped up on the table. As if she's having a beer with the guys.

6) I made a recipe the other night that called for a sprig of fresh rosemary, which I would have if it weren't buried in two feet of snow. Depressing. Feeling the winter blues the last few days.

7) Speaking of winter blues, there's nothing to exacerbate them like a leaky roof. Many of our neighbors have had water damage due to ice dams, and so far we've been lucky. Yesterday a leak started in our bedroom, all across the top of the window frame. It's very frustrating because we live in brand new buildings, so chances are the builder didn't properly construct the roofs.

8) Perhaps I can get some escape from the endless winter by reading some of the books on my ever growing to-read list. In addition to Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture, I have a couple more coming this week. They are: Vegan Freak: Being Vegan in a Non-Vegan World, and Having Faith: An Ecologist's Journey to Motherhood. I also have a couple of Kindle books waiting, and have Water for Elephants and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo on my library list.

9) BAH! Where's spring?

10) The Outfit of the Week isn't too exciting today. Just something I think is cute. Celia has started to like wearing her slippers. There's just something really cute about her little feet in those slippers, and she looks so grown up in them.