Potatoes in the Mist

So I just got back from the "gala." D stayed a bit longer, to bid at the live auction. It's all to benefit E's school. I bid on some items in the silent auction (a tour of a chocolate factory, a big basket from Fairway, a tote with small-dog items for a neighbor, a box of special teas with an infuser). Hopefully we will win something. I decided the black sparkly dress was de trop (and a bit uncomfortable too), so I just wore a long black skirt, a long-sleeved top from the Gap, and black strappy sandals. Some women were wearing cocktail dresses and others were in corduroys and sneakers, so I guess I fell somewhere in between.

Just got carded at the liquor store. I love those moments. 

Tomorrow night we're going to a "gala" at my son's school. It's a fundraiser with food provided by Danny Meyer, all very ooh-la-la. But of course all I'm thinking is: do I have to dress up? I bought a black glitter dress from H&M (one of my new favorite stores, it costs barely more than Old Navy but is somehow classier). But still, despite the dress, which I like well enough, I don't really want to dress up. Which brought up a submerged memory: hiding in my room, then under the coffee table, because I didn't want to dress up to see The Nutcracker as a child. I wanted to see it, I just didn't want to put on a skirt. Which raises the question: how much do we change, from when we were children? Not much, I bet.

Mother-in-law and a family friend took Eric to a puppet show in the East Village. I love his expression in this photo.

I was reading the NPR review of Anne Tyler's latest novel, A Spool of Blue Thread , and came across this excerpt: The house is lovingly described, and like Tyler's novels, it's well-built, homey and unpretentious, "a house you might see pictured on a thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle, plain-faced and comfortable, with the Stars and Stripes, perhaps, flying out front and a lemonade stand at the curb."

The title of this post describes our efforts at toilet training. With Eric, we plopped him on the toilet for months, then suddenly, magically he was toilet trained. (This also happened to someone in Zoe's class.) With Zoe, we have not yet hit the elusive payoff. I put her on the potty every day. Sometimes she goes there when she needs to, sometimes she doesn't and wets her pants instead. I put her in underwear every day. Sometimes they stay dry, sometimes they don't. I remember a friend of my mother-in-law's telling me that her daughter was wearing pull-ups until age 4 or 5. Then a kindergarten friend saw the pull-ups in her closet and said, "Ew, what are those?" Hopefully we won't get to that point.

Just rode 3.25 miles while listening to Madonna, Sting and The Police. If you ask me, there is nothing like 80s music :)

Just saw a study on Facebook that says the longer babies breastfeed, the more they achieve in life. Zoe is going to do great things, then :) And yes, I will wean her someday. Though it seems like a daunting task.

We got tickets to see Hamilton - popular new Broadway play about the founding father, Alexander Hamilton, with a twist: it's all hip hop. I was skeptical at first, but it does look entertaining. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaSD7NY3SCo

Last night I dreamed that a stripper became the first female president. She had long brown hair and there was a photo of George W. Bush grabbing her chest during a performance. She was smart, and only stripping to support her two daughters. She was a single mom living in a nice section of Harlem on 105th Street. Everyone was so interested in her being a stripper that they forgot she was the first female president. At some point I said, "Hey! She's the first female president!" and everyone said, "Yay!"

It's snowing cats and dogs outside (hehe), although it's a little late for that sort of thing. Isn't March supposed to be spring? Anyway, I had a little Toblerone to fortify me for pickup. My back is doing better after I saw the chiropractor yesterday, but I have to go back next week. It's still stiff and I have limited range of motion. (This reminds me of the time I saw a pair of 80-year-olds on the bus in deep conversation, with seeming relish, about all their ailments. I am already heading in that direction.) Just finished Journey to the River Sea, about an English schoolgirl moving to the Amazon, and now I've plunged into another book by the same author (Eva Ibbotson), this one set in an Austrian castle.

Ugh, I threw my back out. The last time I did that, I was bending down to take E out of his crib. So that would have been 2008 or 2009. So at least it doesn't happen very often. I am walking around like a hunchback. Can't stand up straight. So tomorrow I am going to the chiropractor. It's been so long since I have seen him, he has moved to a new office. Still on 5th Avenue, but further up. Closer to my house, actually. So that is good. Finishing up Double Fudge Brownie Murder by Joanne Fluke. I always enjoy her food-related mysteries.

So, anyone here who follows Judy in KY - she has a new blog, munchkinandbuddy.blogspot.com. Go over and say hi :) It's 34 today. Feels like spring. Well, sort of :)

Just finished another Lucy Knisley comic book/graphic novel, called Radiator Days , about her life at art school in Chicago. When she graduated, she didn't know what kind of job to get, and had a hard time getting one (sounds familiar), so she worked at a cheese shop for a bit. Of course this made me want to work at a cheese shop. She had to remember 500 types of cheese, and did this by giving them personalities (a smelly Spanish lord, a laid-back California surfer). We got back from Miami recently, it looked like this: Sometimes I don't know why I live in the Northeast.

Today Z had a playdate with a girl from school. The girl has a nanny who picks her up from school. So we walked from school to the girl's apartment, then upstairs to this playroom where we met some other kids, and another girl from school came over. I was talking with the girl's nanny, and I found out that the girl's mother doesn't work outside the home. Obviously I have nothing against stay-at-home moms (I am one), but if you don't have a job, why do you need a nanny? I talked a bit more with the nanny and found out that her duties consist of serving lunch to the girl, taking her to the playroom upstairs, and picking her up at school (a few blocks away). I didn't say anything, but I really don't get it. Z's school is in a different neighborhood, and I have noticed they all have nannies whether the mothers work or not.

Just finished Displacement: A Travelogue  by Lucy Knisley. So good! It's about going on a cruise with her elderly grandparents. They are both in their 90s (the author is 27). The story also includes fragments from her grandfather's memoirs. He was a pilot in World War II. Very interesting. I also like the book's format. Knisley writes graphic novels (comic books for grown-ups). I also liked her previous book, French Milk. 

I just finished A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler. What a good book. And unfortunately, it is supposed to be her last, according to a friend. (She's still alive, but supposedly retiring from writing.) I can only hope she will be like Cher, who has one farewell concert after another.

I just made some cupcakes from a dark chocolate cake mix that was on sale at Gristedes. For the frosting, I softened some butter and added salt, confectioner's sugar, and a few drops of milk. It came out better than when I have followed icing "recipes." And everyone looks down on cake mix, but these cupcakes may have converted me, a former vanilla fan. It's starting to snow outside, big fluffy flakes falling lazily down.

Can't seem to stop making these. Working my way through some bulky yarn.

I got an early reviewers' copy from LibraryThing. It's called The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy by Rachel Joyce. It's the sequel to The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. I liked that one, but the sequel is even better. One of those rare, magical books. It's worth the reading glasses I have to put on to read a non-Kindle book :-) I also conducted a consumer experiment, ordering the same shoes from L.L. Bean and Land's End. Who does it better? L.L. Bean. By a landslide.