I woke up to the sound of thunder this morning. I was elated. A rainy day, made famous by the Cat in the Hat. As Dr. Seuss famously said, "we sat in the house all that cold, cold, wet day." On a rainy day, it's okay to stay in. It feels normal to stay in. Rain, rain, please don't go away!Yet, on ... Read More »

I showed up late to online yoga yesterday evening. If you know me, you're probably not surprised. As calendar-oriented as I am, it's still a challenge to make it places in a timely manner. Luckily, the virtual door was still open. We began with four different laying-on-your-back poses that laste... Read More »

I don't know about any of you introverts out there, but if you're sharing space with others during this stay-at-home time, maybe you're beginning to feel a bit... crowded? Axel and I have set up a system for who stays where so that we don't get too much on each other's nerves. He usually works in... Read More »

When Life Gives you Peas… This morning I inventoried the groceries from last week. They had been sitting in the fridge long enough that I figured it was safe to start using them. Two containers of green beans. Two of spinach – much too much spinach. And some fresh peas in a bag. A slimy smell ema... Read More »

When I was out for my early morning run this morning, I noticed that there is only one car parked in our building's guest garage. Not to mention the usually crowded streets are deserted – there is parking everywhere! And I thought... what better time to have a party? Hear me out. Sure, our party... Read More »

"You know where they could be?" It had just come to me as I was reading before bed. After spending most of the day searching pockets, both mine and Axel's. "My white jacket! That's the one I wore out on the balcony this morning. And I was carrying my headphones!" Places I had already searched: My... Read More »

As I stood in the bathroom, scrubbing foamed-up soap between my fingers and under my nails, I glimpsed a moth on the bottom of the mirror. Was it even alive? Its location on the bottom of the mirror made me think maybe it had met its fate long ago and just now fallen from the light fixture above.... Read More »

After two weeks of not going anywhere, there was finally a need to replenish some supplies. But when I turned the key in the ignition of the car, it made some noise… and the car did not turn on. I got Axel to help me. “It’s almost starting!” I said. “It’s so close!” A few weeks back, we experie... Read More »

This time, Little L and I made broccoli barley soup. There were leftovers, just like last time. This time, I put them in the fridge. We've been eating the soup for lunch all week. Small wins (though truly, this felt huge). Read More »

For several days as Little L and I strolled down the street, trying to avoid crossing paths with anyone on the sidewalk, we passed this as we turned left at the bottom of the hill: Looks nice. Do you think it would fit me? "Mama! Why is a shoe there?" Little L asked. "It's so silly!" I said. "Do ... Read More »

Last night as I was finally in bed in my pajamas, ready for some relaxation before drifting off to sleep, I eagerly reached to open the drawer on my night stand to grab my Kindle.  The drawer moved about half an inch and no more.  It was stuck, and so was I. I can get it closed... but I can't get... Read More »

I don't have a reputation for being much of a cook. Yet I received two oven mits in the past year, one as a birthday gift from Little L, and another as a Valentine's Day gift from a student. If you've ever shared a meal with me, you know just how much I eat!I've had hot pad holders before, as I g... Read More »

Last month, my writing group met in Northeast Minneapolis. Three of the four of us made it. One of us left late and another left early. The month before, a different combination of the three of the four of us gathered at a café in South Minneapolis on a snowy night. The drive was a little dicey; ... Read More »

Yesterday, Little L and I were walking through the leafy section of the park where no one was within six let alone 30 feet of us when– My eyes spotted a big pile – someone hadn't cleaned up after their dog last fall, and now the snow had melted and there it remained. Right where my foot was abou... Read More »

I've been trying to keep these posts amusing and lighthearted, but I'm going to be honest. I didn't have a great start to the day yesterday. I was boiling water for my morning coffee (a theme, perhaps?) when I realized that I had turned on the wrong burner... And something else was bubbling. Thi... Read More »

Monday at home. No music class for Little L, not that we would be going anyway. She's awake in her crib –I am lucky she's a rather cautious two-and-a-half-year-old– and I open the cabinet to get a mug for a cup of coffee before I go in to get her. A fruit fly flies out. I sigh, looking at the not... Read More »

"A-HA! This hose comes off!" Axel exclaimed, a metal hanger in hand. "Can you bring a broom handle?" For the past week, we'd been making half-hearted efforts to get the vacuum working, to no avail. Just the night before Axel had cleaned out all sorts of different vacuum parts that I didn't even k... Read More »

“Hey! I have the day off today!” Zahara texted. “Any chance you can meet up this afternoon for coffee?” I was shocked to see this text as my lunch hour was wrapping up. I had been texting with Zahara about setting up a coffee date for months; we had at one point settled on getting together on a w... Read More »

The cashier handed me my receipt. "Have a good day."  Where was my bag?  Luckily I was wearing Little L's diaper bag, so I opened it up and stuffed the wet wipes and prunes in. When my niece K got out of the bathroom, I asked her what had happened. "Oh, they don't give you a bag in California. Yo... Read More »

Last Friday night I turned my phone off at 6 p.m. and didn’t turn it back on until Saturday around noon. Do you know what I missed in those 17 hours of not checking my texts and emails? Not a thing. When I turned it back on, I didn’t have even one new text, voicemail, or email. I’m not suggesting... Read More »

It’s too far away, I told my friend. He wanted to rent us a room in his house. Too far away from what? From where we live now, I explained patiently. We decided to be long distance friends. I call him when I’m in South Minneapolis, and he does the same when he visits Northeast. We see each other ... Read More »

“What? YOU went to Costco??!?” Ana texted me back. Which made me realize that I haven’t yet outed myself as a megastore shopper. Yup, for all of my talk of minimalism, I’ve been walking around with a CostCo card in my wallet for the past ten months. It all started because my brother David and his... Read More »

This morning Little L and I saw her***! At least we thought we did. We saw a shadow near the door right before the lights went out. Was it Woof-Woof? Or a new sofa? Now that the leaves have fallen, we can see the house across the way. Aren’t they pretty much asking us to keep tabs on their dog? ... Read More »

“Want to play something else?” New Friend asked. We decided to play gin, though I wasn’t quite clear on the rules. Later, I realized it was just like Mah Jong. You can make runs OR threes/fours-of-a-kind. But how to organize my cards? Put all of the twos together or put all of the hearts together... Read More »