An unpredictable Thursday

1. It is starting to be impossible to predict her response to clothes I buy for her and to places I take her to. She is growing up, definitely.

2. The unfairness of the situation makes me a little angry. But no one is to blame. And I am the only one to deal with it. So I just dive in and I am over and done with it by the time I have to leave.

3. It was 100% pure magic to listen to their music live, again. The neighboring town’s school gym may not be the perfect environment but it’s packed with locals and non-locals, even with people speaking German and English, and we are all just enchanted.

 

Wednesday’s fine

1. There are some great things in my mailbox today: a romantic movie and some embarrassing stories to read which remind me of situations when I felt the blush rising in my face. All is fine as long as I am able to laugh at myself.

2. I glance at the TV screen wishing I had the time to sit down and watch the movie amid all the things and people that call for my attention. But it’s really just an impulse because I like the actress and her haircut, and what I really want is to give a shower to Jay and sweet-talk her to sleep.

3. I can’t remember the last time a book made me cry… My cheeks are wet from tears and it is so liberating. It’s only just page 94 and more than another 100 pages to go.

Tuesday smiles

1. I dial an unknown number and hear a familiar voice. Happy memories from 20 years ago come to surface.

2. I make a crazy promise to wear a very short skirt for a certain special occasion which is very unlikely to take place ever. The whole family laughs just at the thought of it. I do, too.

3. The smell of strawberries in my shower. I check the image on the container if it is just strawberries or strawberries with cream.

Tuesday surprises

1. Em is eager to read her new poem to me. Indeed, a perfect combination of her favourite activities: writing rhymes about reading books.

2. A postcard and a letter in my mailbox. They are from different countries, but both have polar bear stamps.

3. I drive to the local theatre in the rain drizzling evening. Then the light cuts through the drapery and I see two ends of a rainbow. My first rainbow scene this year. 

Tuesday highlights

1. The shop lady’s smiling face makes my morning.

2. I forward my translation of the poem to a couple of friends and they agree that it's grand.

3. We take the long path through the woods. I listen to my daughter's excitement over the last book of the Ink Trilogy, enjoy the sight of periwinkle flowers and green beeches and make sure I don't run out of breath. 

Monday harmony

1. My friend from the office and I share a blissful moment of complete understanding of what we are saying to one another. We look at each other and smile.

2. I am amazed by Em’s report about an art project that nine classmates had agreed to put together but eventually only two showed up, Em being one of them, and did the work that challenged their creativity and gave them a sense of accomplishment. Way to go, girls!

3. I answer the phone only to realize that the caller and I are standing 2 minutes away from each other and that this is one of those meant-to-be happy meetings over a cup of decaf.

Breezy Wednesday

1. Jay plays her zither and sings along. Then she invites us all to sit down on the blanket in our living room and have cookies and nuts. Happy time.

2. I take a deep breath and enjoy the quietness. The evening breeze with scents of spring on my face and in my hair.

3. My back muscles are no longer tight. (I know my sleep tonight won't be either.)

Tuesday stories

1. Jay puts up another puppet show about Cinderella. Unlike in the traditional version she put up yesterday this time Cinderella dances with the Prince, the Gingerbreadman, the Ballerina and some other puppets placed over wooden spoon handles so Jay could hold them all. Her narration is great. I am amazed.

2. I see a bookmark stuck in another of Em’s thick books. We have an agreement about not starting a new book before Friday due to school tests this week… and apparently she couldn’t help herself but to read the first two pages. I can imagine her excitement about a great story so very well, that wonderful anticipation.

3. There are stories residing within me. I just don’t have the time and the energy to let them out. But it is all fine because I know they are there, waiting for more attention.

Jay's gifts of love

A bouquet for Mommy!

A tiny gift of sisterly love!

 

Good night to all lovely Dolls!

Thursday gifts

1. For a short and blissful moment I was listening to a professional team and learnt from the experts. 

2. Lunch on the table and all costumes taken care of. I am grateful. Mom knows.

3. I love how smooth stretched fresh sheets feel.

Wednesday winds

1. A strong wind in my face with snowflakes landing on my glasses. 

2. My friend has the answers to all my questions. She has my whole life figured out. We laugh.

3. The lady at the local library is kind and always able to suggest a good book. My reading list is a whole lot longer because of her.

Pink

1. A box with a pink label attracts my attention. I buy two. Rose Bud Tea. I can’t wait to try it.

2. She looks at herself in the mirror, enchanted. My pink fairy.

3. I listen to the sweet melody of the lady’s pronunciation. And I know exactly where she’s from.

Monday Live

1. Jay creates a card with a lovely red bow for her best friend Rebecca. I admire her persistence in copying all the letters to write the birthday wish inside the card. And I love how her letters flow up and down as if they were live and not following some invisible line like mine.

2. A lovely card in the mail. An illustration from the Russian folk tale »The Turnip«.

3. »Only 4 more days till Em’s back, right?« Jay sighs in the darkness a few minutes before falling asleep.

Sunday’s happy

1. When the series of Sunday morning cartoons on TV is over Jay gets a creative bug and starts looking trough the drawers for paper and glue. She creates a happy paper Sun with a glittery heart in the centre.

2. I leave muddy footprints on patches of snow.

3. They share tears and smiles knowing they won’t be seeing each other for 4 days. A bond between sisters I never knew.

Thursday's delights

1. The surroundings are dark and misty as I walk down the road but the moon lights behind the clouds.

2. Chocolate cake delights them both. What is it with chocolate & girls?

3. I close my eyes while listening to the story Boy and Magic shoes that Em has written for her school assignment. I feel her breath on my face.

Wednesday wonders

1. A lovely card with two birds and poppy flowers against the pink background in the mail.

2. Jay asks me to come listen to her short composition on the piano. It’s a variation to a melody her big sister has taught her and it is perfect.

3. At dusk I look through our living room window just in time to see two roe deer’s white patches disappear in the wood.

 

Great finds

1. While sorting paper clutter that has been piling up over the last few years I find an envelope with photos from Em’s 6th birthday party.

2. The little boy seems uncomfortable among strangers while waiting outside the doctor’s room for his daddy to reappear. I try destressing him by pointing at the calendar on the wall to show him how very near school holidays and Shrove Tuesday are. A smile lightens his face.

3. After some 50 pages I am ready to stop reading the novel any further… I give it another few pages. Good decision.

My Valentines

1. An unexpected gift for Valentines.

2. Jay returns to the bathroom wearing Em's pyjamas laughing and singing: "I'm St. Nicolaus!"

3. We read a story at bedtime about a game a little girl and her daddy play "if I were you...". We turn-off the light and I turn to Jay: "Would you want to be me? I would love to be you....!" "No!" she says. Then I hear Em's voice coming from her room: "You know who I'd want to be? Me. I like who I am, what I do and how I do it. And if I do something wrong, I know I can change that."

Wednesday's goodies

1. My colleague approaches to tell me how wonderful the book I have lent her is and as I check out what page she is on I know she hasn't even come to the best part of the story yet.

2. Jay recites a new Neza Maurer's poem that she has learnt, and Em goes through her opening lines to the inteview she is having with the very same poet tomorrow. I couldn't be more proud of my girls.

3. I walk down to the store and back. It's cold and I am carrying two bags, no mobile phone to call for a lift, but that is what I had planned and made sure I didn't have any excuses to not have some excercise even if it is below zero degrees. Then just as I approach our house I see a car pull out of the garage and I know my husband thought of driving down the road to meet me part-way, and I think that's nice.  

Notes, vision boards and toes

1. I throw a bunch of notes into my paper recycling bin. They are either my to-do lists that I have been able to tick off or print-outs with tips I no longer need. How liberating!

2. I have been playing with the idea of making a vision board for myself for quite a while now. But I hadn't had the time to do it. Then it hit me today: the background of my icons on my computer screen at work is like a vision board. And I have had a photo of a huge fatty piece of pastry coated with sugar there and I know it hasn't been doing me any good. I replaced it with a gorgeous photo with mountains peaks that I had hiked to 15 years ago. There. My vision board. Summer 2011 it is.

3. I gently touch her toes while she studies details in the illustrations in her magazine. I love touching Jay's toes. They are so tiny and smooth and round... like pearls.