For some reason Friends has been on my mind (probably because social media REALLY wants it to be on my mind for some reason), so here are a few life updates, in episode format.

The One With the College Boy

Lex is home! Have I mentioned that already?! He came home last weekend after completely rocking his freshman year of college. He made friends, he aced his classes, he joined five different bands, he joined (briefly) a karate club, and he has plans to room with six friends next year in a college apartment! When he got home he set up a LinkedIn account and applied for a few summer jobs. He’s waiting to hear back from them. He also cleaned his room and cleared off his desk (which we haven’t see the surface of in years!) so he could have the dual-monitor setup he had in the dorm. One of his friends also set up a Minecraft server, so he’s been in his room most of the time, playing Minecraft online with his friends. I can’t even complain about it, though sometimes we do forget that he’s home. :)

The One With the Flowers

George is in full bloom! It’s funny because the branches are still short and the tree is barely taller than me, but it’s blooming like crazy! The garden in front of the house is full of tulips, with hostas starting to fill in the gaps. I did some weeding and pruning of the little rose bush and it’s looking way less dead now. I hope it thrives! Eve and I also have a plan for the backyard to fence it in, plant native ground cover, and grow some morning glories. We bought everything last weekend, but couldn’t find appropriate fencing locally so now we’re just waiting on the Amazon order to deliver the fence, then the planting will begin.

The One Where They Kidnapped a Cat (Briefly)

There is a beautiful Siamese cat that is free range in our neighborhood. It is very friendly, love pets, and will follow you home and try to come inside. Last summer we thought maybe it was homeless (though it doesn’t look scraggy or unkempt), but after asking around for a bit the general consensus was that it had a home. Most people thought it lived “at the house at the end of Davis, you know, the one with the rabbits.” I don’t actually know, but people seemed certain so that was enough for me.

Last week I saw this LOST CAT sign and immediately realized we hadn’t seen the cat in awhile. A few days later it ran through our yard! I sent Eve out to track it down, which wasn’t hard since it’s such a friendly cat. I took a quick drive down the street to get the phone number off the sign while Lex and Eve captured the cat in the garage.

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We texted and called the number, from both my phone and Eve’s. We set up a lawn chair in the garage and took turns sitting with the cat. It loved the cat treats we bought for Jazzy awhile ago that the refuses to eat. The cat is adventurous, but also has no respect for personal space. If it’s on your lap, it’s on your chest and in your face too. I started to worry about what to do if we didn’t hear from the people. Fortunately, after an hour or so, they texted back and said it wasn’t their cat!!! Apparently other people in our neighborhood had also reported seeing this cat and thinking it was theirs. They said “we probably should just take the signs down.” They hadn’t found their cat yet though. :(

So we released the cat. It zipped right out of the garage when we opened the door, but then when I opened the garage door to pull the car back into the garage, the cat ran back in for more cuddles with Eve. Silly cat. Imagine if it went home and was able to tell it’s owners about it’s adventures. LOL.

The One Where They Went Geocaching

This weekend was Mother’s Day weekend. Saturday was beautiful and Alan was in town (before his big trip to Texas and Belize this week!), so I decided to drag everyone outside for a little sunshine and fresh air. Alan and the cooperative kids came along and we explored a local watering hole. I wanted to do a Geocache because we haven’t done one in awhile and because a colleague and I are making one at work. I thought it would be fun to get out there and try it again. I found one at a place I’ve heard of before but never knew where it was. It’s one of those places that always comes up in conversation about swimming holes, so I’m happy to now know where it is. And it’s beautiful!

It was a short little hike, punctuated with views of the falls and some rock climbing, then an fairly easy cache find.

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Then the boys went home while Eve and I went grocery shopping. Can’t change the Saturday routine too much!

That evening we all played Catan. Eve and I teamed up and still got our butts kicked. Alan went home the champion, but we all had a great day.

The One With No Pretty Sky Lights

The other big thing this weekend was a huge solar storm the resulted in Aurora Borealis sightings as far south as Florida! All weekend the skies were full of color for some people, and clouds for others! Alan got some good photos in Montpelier, but we had solid cloud coverage all weekend. Every night I went out to check (and also walk the dog) and every night I got this:

Boring clouds. No colors. I (and probably everyone else) did learn that the lights look better in photos than in real life. Apparently the camera can see the depth of colors better at night, so those amazing photos you see probably didn’t actually look that amazing IRL. I still wanted to see them anyway. I enjoyed the discussions and the memes, even if I didn’t get to see them in person. I also reminded myself that we got a beautiful view of a full solar eclipse this year, so really I can’t expect too much of the New England skies in spring!

The One With Back Pain

My back and sciatic pain has been pretty minimal lately. My gym plans fell apart though, and I haven’t been doing much of any exercise lately. I’ve been thinking about exercising a lot, which really should count for something, but sadly it does not. After having such a nice day on Saturday, I decided to do some light stretching. Thinking maybe I’d ease myself back into a fitness routine. Slow and steady, right. Wrong!! Somehow, by doing light stretching for like 5 minutes, stretches I’ve done plenty of times in the past, I reactivated the back pain!! I’m soo mad! And sad. And in pain. I didn’t feel an immediate pain, but as the evening progressed it started to feel tight. Then by Sunday evening it was so painful and by Monday I was back to that awkward walk, hurts to stand and sit, and I’m miserable. I was hoping it would get better overnight and with ice, but nope. Today I emailed the physical therapist that I saw last year. Maybe he can squeeze me in for a quick appt. Maybe this will be the final straw to motivate me to make changes. Maybe not. We’ll see. First, I have to get rid of the pain again. Sigh. 😭

The One Where They Celebrate Mom

Sunday was supposed to be rainy and the kids had plans to play D&D, but all that didn’t happen, so instead we ended up with a lovely Mother’s Day with no plans. One might think we’d go out and enjoy the day, but instead we just hung out at home. Simon came over to visit for a few hours and that was fun. Eve made blueberry muffins and the cutest card in the world. I made a photo collage for my mom. LOL. I also made a delicious dinner of spring veggies sautéed with mini cheese tortellini. Sounds weird, I guess, but it was tasty.

Life has it’s ups and downs, but overall I can’t complain. Some days you get eclipses and beautiful handmade cards, other days you get clouds and back pain. Overall though, life is good.

💖