Peace Out, Blog Lyfe!

Hey!  Look at that!  It's me!

So, I'm basically just writing this because I haven't written anything lately other than essay feedback and recommendation letters, and it bugged me that I left my blog without an official closing post.  Let's call this one the official closing post.

What's new?  SO MUCH.  Matt starts grad school tomorrow.  I am thriving at work.  The kids are great, but hard as fuck.  Mitch died.

I think one reason I couldn't come back to this blog was that Mitch's name was in the name of the blog, and how could I keep it going when he was sick and then gone?  True fact: I did not deal with his death well.  I mean, I didn't try to jump off a bridge or anything, but I basically cried about it every day for six months, and then every three days for another six.  Now the crying about Mitch is usually just something that happens every so often or after I've had too many glasses of wine or after the children have been particularly unpleasant and I wish he was around to balance it out.  But he had cancer and we had to put him to sleep and it was just awful.  But I'm at a place now where I'm happy he had the best dog life ever and that I had a furry soulmate.  Do the pangs of sadness still come?  Yep.  (Like now that I'm talking about it, for instance.)  But they're fewer and farther between, and as my boyfriend Joe said, the day will come when the thought of him will bring a smile to my face before it brings a tear to my eye.

As for the kids, they're just the coolest.  If you want to know more about them, you should just follow me on Instagram.  I'm mandypkeaton.  I'm still figuring out what I want to share about the kids online, how much of what goes on these days is my story and how much is their story, you know?  I figure no harm comes from erring on the side of considering things their story and using restraint (not my strength), so I don't always share every dirty detail of our lives.

Here I am, though.  It's 6 1/2 year after I started this blog just because I had a camera and saw a snake in some bushes.  The time has come.  Peace out, M Cubed.

xoxoxoxo

Hello, Again.

Not too long ago, Cassie posted on her [new!] blog about how marriage is a series of peaks and valleys, how it's important to remember when life just feels hard that good times are just around the corner.  And it works out that way, doesn't it?  We could extend that metaphor to include parenting, and, really, life in general.  It feels like, lately (and forever), just when things feel totally and completely shitty and dark and I start to feel like I just want to crumble under the pressures that life brings, solutions arise, kids start acting like darling angels instead of tiny terrorists, and everything is great again.  Depending on the week, you can find Matt and me either cursing our two babies in two years plan or smugly patting ourselves on the back for it.

Fortunately for me, this week is a peak.  My students had their last day of school last Friday, and I've just been tying up loose ends at school and turning my thoughts to summer break (my first that I won't be pregnant or nursing or both since 2010): the beach, the pool, taking turns sleeping in, getting around to tackling house projects, trying my damnedest to savor the moments with our kids at this age (and then, I'm sure, taking a number of solo trips outside the house when I've had it with them).  I'm so incredibly excited for the next couple of months.

And I guess I should fill you in on what we've been doing around here, too, Grandma.  (I'm pretty sure my grandma is the only one who still reads this blog.)  We had a joint birthday party for Charlie and Matilda which was super fun and during which I only took like one picture, Charlie turned two (ack!) and Tilda turned one.  We've gone to the beach and to the pool and out to lunch and to the park.  We enjoyed a relaxing spring break that already feels like it was ages ago.  Mitch had surgery again to remove a tumor from a place on his body where you really don't want to have a tumor (I mean, is there any place on your body you do want to have a tumor?).  We have spent the last month and a half (except for the last week or so) taking turns being sick.  I got poison ivy all over my face again, as I am wont to do.  I fixed the elliptical but have yet to lose the two million pounds that I need to lose.  I've been making popsicles like a fiend and teaching myself to make felt bows because Cassie has forbidden me from cutting Matilda's bangs.

I'm sure I'm forgetting other very important happenings (like cooking stove-popped popcorn and watching True Detective and Mad Men!), but for now, let's just look at pictures so that I have them stored somewhere when Charlie sets this computer on fire.

Yo!

You should know, first, that I am writing this post because I don't want to deal with this massive pile sitting atop my damned ottoman.  It's so cliche, but, fuck, man. . .laundry.

We haven't talked in like two weeks!  Well, shoot.  Well, let me fill you in, then.

It was supposed to snow, but it didn't.  But we did get ice and I did get an early dismissal, a day off of school, and an unexpected teacher three-hour delay/teacher workday.  And it was right when Matt's parents were coming to visit!  So that was supes fun and we had an amazing visit and it was incredible.

And then the week that followed sucked balls.  Oh, car troubles, a full work week (the horror!), PMS, and whiny kiddies, both of the baby and teenage variety.  There were some bright spots to be sure, but the week was mostly marked by suckiness and me being fussy and snapping at Matt when he criticized the way I make Annie's Mac & Cheese.

So there's not really anything for me to share that's noteworthy, other than some sage advice to you:

1.  If you find yourself in a position where you need to buy a car on a budget, don't buy that car from someone who you describe to your friends as being like Jesse Pinkman from Breaking Bad.  Take two steps back, think about it, and move on.  Jesse was kind of shady, remember that?  So, yeah, consider me your own personal human-sized Eastern meditation rat or something.

2.  Make Smitten Kitchen's browned butter rice crispy treats.  They will change your life.  Maybe in the way that your life changes when you have to buy pants in the next size up, but still.

Um, you're welcome.

Picture time!