Home Sick

I'm home sick with a stomach bug I caught from the collegiate masses.  The bad news is, being sick is no fun.  The good news is, TCM is doing a marathon of Irish movies for St. Patty's Day, so I'm lounging on the sofa in my comfiest fluffy socks and my softest quilt and watching old black and whites with bad accents and silly story lines.

Bad reason to be home on the sofa, but good day to have sunshine and the comfort of old movies.

Joy and Temperance and Repose

Slam the door on the doctor's nose.

~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow    

Some Kind of Wonderful -- updated :)

I don't really remember how long ago I discovered it, but my mom's cd collection has a "Best of The Drifters" cd.  I like to put it on her kitchen stereo when I'm home.  It doesn't matter if we're washing dishes, making dinner, or sipping coffee on the back porch -- if that cd comes on, I can't help but dance.  And since I'm a terrible, guffawing idiot of a dancer, the moment invariably ends in laughter -- which is my favorite family sound, so it's a total win-win situation.  haha. 

If I can get my parents to show off their suh-weet dancing skillz, it's a win-win-WIN.

I have all sorts of stations on my pandora account, but last week I made one titled "The Drifters."  It was cloudy, cold day and I was aching for warmer days.  The moment "Some Kind of Wonderful" came on, summer arrived in my window-less, February office.  Made me very happy and quite excited about summer days being around the corner.  Happy Valentine's Day!

----------- UPDATE --------------------

The Very Good Man surprised me with Valentine's flowers today!! He had them delivered to me at work -- a basket of roses and daisies, a stuffed monkey, and chocolate.  I mean, how awesome is THAT? I've never gotten Valentine's Day flowers before :)  Big smiles and lots of thankfulness to you, VGM.  You really know how to warm a girl's heart ;)

Apparently, VGM didn't know the monkey part of the arrangement would be so large, haha -- his exact words when I sent him this pic? "Whoa.  The monkey looked way smaller in the picture."

The non-monkey side of the basket-o-flowers :)  So pretty, huh? 

Nonno's Shelf

Today I impressed myself and made my Nonno proud.  My Nonno, who served in the Pacific in WWII and who passed away several years ago, was a woodworking genius.  He made beautiful pieces and I'm thankful to have inherited the toy chest he made me as a baby, a small table he made me as a little girl, and a curio-style shelf that used to hang in Mom and Dad's house.  Today, I successfully (and all by myself) hung the curio shelf in my living room.  Well, all by myself and with the aid of a hammer, nails, the hangy-nail-things that hold more weight than a nail by itself, and a teeny level with a teeny bubble inside to tell me when the shelf was straight.  And I only made ONE extra nail hole (which I very pragmatically hid when I hung the shelf).

So, in other words, I am a GENIUS of home-improvement and ready to begin taking work orders.  So far, my specialty skills are:

1) hanging a shelf on the wall while only leaving one extra hole which can be easily covered by aforementioned shelf

and

2) painting walls with gusto and little regard for drip-marks. (My mother, sisters, countless friends, and brother-in-law can attest to this second one.  I am rapacious with a paint roller but I can't be bothered with the details of cutting in, trim, corners OR drip-marks.)

Home

The light is what guides you home, the warmth is what keeps you there. 

~Ellie Rodriguez

Home is a name, a word, it is a strong one; stronger than magician ever spoke, or spirit ever answered to, in the strongest conjuration. 

~Charles Dickens

It's only a week and a half until I leave the cozybutsometimeslonely lodging of my little apartment and head towards the hustle and bustle of another M Family Thanksgiving at Mom and Dad's.  It makes me smile just thinking about it -- the laughter, the drama, the cooking, the smooshing into a very small house and fighting over the remote control... ahhh.  Family.  Good times, good times.

My family is big.  And loud.  And passionate about almost everything.  Addendum.  Some of us are passionate about SOME topics, and some of us are bored to tears by said topics.  Which is part of the magic of my family -- there's always something to talk about and almost always someone who will listen to you talk about it.  Or argue with you about why you should be talking about something else :P

Home is a lovely blue house with a beautifully landscaped yard and an American flag always waving from the front porch.  

Home is a blue/white/yellow kitchen, a dining room with a picture window, and a bird identification book always close at hand.


Home is feeling the heat from a freshly poured cup of steaming coffee and seeing the sleepy faces of my family wandering out to the back porch, which has somehow become the unofficial gathering place for starting or ending each day when the whole family's in town.

Home is where the most beautiful, gracious woman in the world answers to the name of "Mom" and leaves little chocolate bars on the pillow when she knows you're coming home...

Home is where a smart, laughing salt-and-pepper headed man steals kisses from her when he thinks we're not looking and always makes sure there's enough coffee in the pot for "one more cup."

Home is where sisters live :)

Happy homecoming to all the weary travelers tonight.  May you know the truth and peace of being HOME -- wherever and with whomever that home exists.