Friday, April 19, 2013

I'm going to write about happy things


Happy things have been happening at my house, and by God, I am going to tell you about them. Because I've learned that it's okay to be happy about the happy things while still being sad about the sad things. BECAUSE I'M IN THERAPY.

Happy Thing The First: P and C had birthdays this past week! I made P that horrible cake you see up there. (I did not eat it, but I'm told it tasted much less horrible than it looked.)(Also, I totally was not drunk when I decorated that cake, I swear.)(Also, C's cake looked a little bit better than that one. Not a lot, but a little bit.) P and I went out to lunch for his birthday and drank beer and I had a DELICIOUS bun-free burger and we may have discovered a new favorite restaurant. C used some of his birthday money to buy a turntable so he and I have been thrifting vinyl and you guys? Goodwill only charges a dollar for vinyl albums! And they have some awesome stuff. The boy has very eclectic taste in music and has picked up everything from folk to swing to jazz to audiobooks on vinyl. He is amassing quite a collection and it's thrilling to see him discover this medium. Music was this kid's first language, y'all, no lie.

Happy Thing The Second: H is getting an academic award at school! I know! She has struggled a bit this year, not because she can't do the work, but because sometimes the instructions aren't clear and the substitute teachers lose her papers (? according to the non-substitute teacher, anyway) and yeah, weird stuff that has nothing to do with her intellectual ability. She is whip-smart but often she doesn't believe that, so this is sort of thrilling and affirming and we are SO PROUD of her because hello, we knew she was smart all along! And, since she doesn't believe us, now we have objective proof. Yay!

Happy Thing The Third: C has graduated high school! Yes! That is a high school diploma you see up there! (Along with an honor roll certificate. This is apparently the blog post where I brag about HOW FLIPPING SMART my kids are. Just go with it.) Lincoln Academy is a fully accredited online high school but there aren't any classes or instruction really; the kids just take five general proficiency tests and when they pass, they get their diploma. C passed all of his tests on Monday and the diploma arrived in the mail yesterday and his 17th birthday was Wednesday and yeah, he is DONE WITH HIGH SCHOOL. Forever. Which is just so weird and wonderful. (Related: if you have an online university you LOVE, please let me know in the comments. We are beginning the search now.)

Random Assorted Bits Of Happy: The hippy grocery store near me carries Hail Merry tarts and macaroons, OMG. These things are paleo AND vegan and just generally delicious. They are expensive, though. But that's good because it keeps me from buying (and eating) them by the case. (This not an ad. I just love these things.) Also: the weather has been MOSTLY gorgeous here in the evenings for grilling dinner on the patio, and that is my absolute favorite thing to do and place to be. Plus: I've discovered some of the weeds in my yard are edible. Huh. Additionally: I have been making my sidecars with rye instead of cognac about 60% of the time lately. Just so you know. Furthermore: I am still maintaining my weight loss from last year EVEN WHILE EATING TARTS AND MACAROONS. And drinking sidecars. With or without rye. I'm going to chalk this up to getting 90% of my grains in liquid distilled/fermented form since the first of the year. (The other 10% consists of rice and the occasional corn tortilla chip. Because I'm not giving up sushi and chips&salsa for nobody. Not even for MY body.)

8 comments:

  1. Those are all very happy things!! I remember back in the day when we were all mommy blogging (even childless moi)-- so pleased that your children are blooming, blossoming.

    xo,
    SL

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  2. Happy for your happy things. Congratulations to C! And H!

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  3. University of Maryland University College (UMUC) has a very good program, in my experience.

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  4. Congratulations all around for you all!!!

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  5. American Public University (APU) is online only and accredited by the same group that accredits brick-n-mortar colleges in the Mid-Atlantic. I was happy with the graduate classes I took with them, but it was a fair amount of reading and writing.

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  6. Wow, speaking of schools, this set of comments feels like a reunion!

    Congratulations to both of your kids. Weirdly enough, young master Buxom (now that he's eighteen, what am I supposed to call him?) will probably be spending an extra year in high school at an arts boarding school, so C. can start condescending to him for being in high school effective almost immediately.

    I've got nothing on on-line colleges so far, but I'm looking for some on-line music classes for Miss Buxom, so if I come across anything that sounds promising, I'll let you know.

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    1. C would love to get a degree in music, but we're finding that doing that 100% online is pretty much impossible. He may end up taking some courses through Berklee, though. Do let me know if you hear of anything else!

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