We Lost A Really Good One.

Jesse Raymond Priem:  January 8th, 1953 – May 17th, 2012.

Obit and guestbook here.

My Dad died last week, very suddenly.  Sudden as in, he was young, healthy (or so everyone thought) and energetic, helping his friend roof his cabin, and collapsed before he could even say a word of warning he was in distress.  The guy with him knew CPR and the ambulance came 10 minutes later and they couldn’t revive him.  Preliminary autopsy says Coronary Artery Disease, which I knew little about but apparently is the #1 cause of death and #1 cause of sudden death in the U.S.  But, he just had a physical and came back all clear.  He was 59.

I could write forever about what he was like, but am not up for it right now.  But I got an e-mail from someone he did work for, who I’d never even met (he was a self-employed general contractor and genius in building and fixing anything) that pretty much sums up what people thought about him:

“Hi, Kelly.  I’m so sorry to hear about your dad.  He was an absolutely great guy.  He did our kitchen remodel about five years ago, and from there he did more projects for us and for many of our best friends.  He was at one of our friends’ houses a couple weeks ago, actually, when I stopped by to pick up my daughter.  He was in the basement and I yelled down to say hello.  He came upstairs and told me he was going to Norway and was so excited about it.  We talked about how much he likes to travel and how we wanted to start doing more of it.  I asked him about his grand baby (Jane) and he just smiled and shook his head proudly and said something like “Ah man, is she cute”.  I feel like getting the chance to see him that day, even for a few minutes, was a blessing.  It was so nice to see him so recently and to have that memory of him being so proud of his granddaughter.

My husband and I have talked often about how we’d be so happy if our boys grow up to be like your dad – hard working, honest, fair, and dedicated.  He was so talented, skilled, and smart.  He had an incredible attitude and energy.  We feel like we’ve gotten to know him pretty well over the years.  We loved his common sense attitude toward life and politics and raising kids.

All of our friends I mentioned above have emailed me or called to say what a huge loss it is to no longer have Jesse Priem in the world.  I know you’ve lost an incredible dad too.  Please share with your mom and sister that we are all grieving with you and our hearts go out to you.  We are all better for having known your dad. “

My Dad & Mom:

Dad with Jane, last summer:

Dad working:

Dad about to walk me down the aisle:

Hug and appreciate your parents.  You just never know.

Breakfast Nook: Unexpected Toddler Danger

This post is mostly an excuse to share a pic of my adorable lil’ nakie fatty wearing my earmuffs:

But seriously, she has learned how to climb.  Onto that bench she is standing on, and then onto the table.  And since it’s a built in bench, ummm, not much we can do.  Move the table?  We live most of our lives in this space and the table came with the house, no idea how they even got it in the tiny kitchen doorway/hall.

And UGH I keep everything important on that table, and now she can reach it!  And destroy it, and throw it all over the house!

Argh, toddlers.  But she redeems with her cuteness.

 

 

Past Six Weeks

Nope, no terribly exciting reason for my internet absence.  March was insanely nice here in MN so spending a lot more time outside.  We also went to FL for ten days due to the generosity of Nathan’s parents, who had already booked a two bedroom condo there for a month, and were able to gift us plane tickets at the last minute because they sold some property up north they’d had on the market for quite awhile.

Florida holds a special place in my heart because we used to go almost every year when I was little and my grandparents spent winters there.  The last time I went I was probably 14 (wow, about half my lifetime ago…).  We stayed in Englewood on Manasota Key and it was beautiful, I could totally see spending a few months of the year there, preferably way before we reach the standard retirement age!

But as lovely as it was, traveling with a toddler is not exactly relaxing.  Jane was ok on the plane but I would NEVER do that by myself.  Even during the short time she slept it took up the space of two seats and wasn’t comfortable.

She also slept like crap the entire trip (waking 3x per night, taking only short naps and waking up super crabby), and of course you have to watch her every second when out by the pool or on the beach.

It’s crazy though that even if you are sleep deprived and your kid is so whiny you’re about to lose your mind, all it takes is two seconds and they do one cute thing and you’re completely in love again.

Most recently charming is how she smacks her lips and gives tons of kisses, and says “Hi!” to announce herself whenever entering a room.

Also helps to look back at adorable pics after they are sound asleep:

She learned how to say “Wow” when the waves crashed.

Saying “All Done!”  (She’s been doing this for awhile, but finally got it along with the hand gesture on camera):

 Funny Florida Furniture Truck:

Oh, and great name for a public transportation system:

Pink pom-pom – FL fashion when it’s 86 degrees and humid:

It really was a great trip, but good to be home too (she slept well again the first night back!) and before we know it, it’ll be cabin season here again.  Happy spring everyone.

One Year!

Tears came to my eyes yesterday as I sat on the floor of Jane’s room nursing her, thinking that exactly a year ago I knelt in this same spot, in labor, trying to pack for the hospital.  A year ago I didn’t know this baby girl!  It seems like forever ago, someone else’s life.

And now all of a sudden she’s barely a baby anymore.  I created a new category for this post, “toddler”.  She’s walking almost 100% of the time and is always surprising us with how much she understands.  In a day she learned all the parts of the face and will point to your nose, mouth, ear, and even “touch mama’s hair nice” if you ask her to.

She brings us books to read and if you ask her to go find a certain toy, she’ll go get it and bring it back, even if it’s in another room.

I love hearing the recent “advanced” baby talk she does – so much more than just a few sounds, but looks at you very seriously and says something complex with all the right intonations, but in a totally different language.

She likes to try to feed herself and gets a kick out of trying to feed other people too:  (surprised by cake being shoved in my face!)

We celebrated her b-day this past weekend at my parents’ house and have another party coming up with Nathan’s family.

Playing with the wrapping:

First taste of cake:

 Not wanting to wait for it to be cut!:

Her own piece:

 Happy Birthday Janey, I expect the next year to be way more fun than the last, hopefully we’ll see lots of this:

xoxoxoxooo

Mama

A Day in the Life…

Inspired by Navigating The Mothership’s quarterly Day in the Life roundup, here’s the account of our day last Thurs. 2-16.  This is a standard “rest” day I like to have at least once a week.  I nanny for another baby about 2 days per week and on other days we get together with friends or visit one of the Grandma’s.

7:00 a.m.:  Jane’s up.  We bring her into our bed to nurse and play for awhile.

7:30:  I move to the couch in the playroom and hope Jane plays by herself while I close my eyes and Nathan gets ready for work.  But she keeps wandering off to find Daddy:

(Ahh look at those thighs!  And dragging the v-day balloon she was scared of for a full day but now loves.)

I hear silence which almost always means she’s found something fascinating to play with I wouldn’t want her playing with, so I drag myself off the couch to investigate:

She’s sitting outside the bathroom door, but instead of whining to get in has found a piece of loose trim to play with.

8:00:  Nathan leaves for work.  We move to the kitchen where I start cleaning up last night’s mess (we always eat late at night…  last night we decided to make pancakes and tropical drinks at 9 p.m…)  Jane plays and I make her something to eat.

Usual state of my kitchen floor:

9:00:  Jane goes down for 1st nap.  I crawl back into bed too.  Every time I do this I’m so thankful to be a stay at home mom.

10:20:  Awake again.  We have almost 3 hours until next nap and in that time I shower, clean up the house, make lunch for both of us, and take care of “administrative life stuff” like making a doc appointment, returning some phone calls, checking e-mail, etc, and playing with baby girl in between all of it.

Sometimes she entertains herself, but half the time she’s pulling on my leg or throwing a tantrum because I tell her not to touch the knob on the stove:

Making tempeh for lunch – so easy, healthy, and cheap, my kitchen smelled like a diner after I sauteed this with olive oil & soy sauce:

My standard SAHM outfit – t-shirt and pajama pants:

 1:15:  Jane goes down for 2nd nap.  I sit down to actually eat my lunch and read a little.

My nice sunny corner on the couch:

2:15:  She’s up.  I definitely didn’t sit and relax for a full hour, maybe a half by the time I did other stuff around the house.

She’s super cranky (according to my notes) and I have no idea what exactly we do for the next hour, because I didn’t write that down.  But, looking through my pics, we watched bugs for awhile (box elders always find their way into the house):

And walked around the house with her favorite toy of the moment, a musical alphabet ball:

 3:45:  Get ready to go to the gym.  I love driving and listening to The Current (our local public radio, but you can stream it if you’re not in MN!)  Just hearing Mary Lucia’s voice puts me in a good mood, and just in time for the “no apologies” track!  She talks about how saying the word “brewery” always feels awkward and I completely agree.  I love this woman.

At the gym:

I love my pink coat I’ve had since like, 2004.  The shoes are just as old and have a hole in the toe, but hey they still work.

I get on the treadmill and try to focus on my music and people watching and ignore the captioned Real Housewives of Wherever on the screen right in front of my face.  The show is so annoying it makes my blood pressure rise just typing about it, and it’s always playing when I’m at the gym.  The other screens show news and sports, equally annoying/uninteresting.

5:45:  Home.  Jane loves to look at the clock right when we walk in the door:

I saw it on the wall of a kabob shop when I was in Spain in… 2002?  Back when I ate meat and kabob is all we ate on that trip, so I talked them into letting me buy their clock off the wall.

6:00:  Daddy’s home, we play on the bed for awhile.  Jane loves to jump and fling herself all over on it, which requires constant supervision:

She LOVES it when I pretend to be “mama monkey” and jump on the bed and eat her legs:

My sweet girl:

Nathan leaves for the gym, he goes most Tues. & Thurs., I give Janey dinner and she’s sleeping by 6:50.

The next two hours I have all to myself.  I finish reading last Sunday’s newspaper, finding a couple more books to put in my library queue (Bringing up bebe - an American mother discovers the wisdom of French parenting, and Behind the Beautiful Forevers, a non-fiction about the slums of India)

I make dinner:

On the left:  pot of instant brown rice.  On the right: chopped veggie burger sauteed with black beans and spinach.  This is why I hardly post recipes, I usually eat boring, simple stuff.  Topped this combo with some salsa and nutritional yeast and it was delicious.

Cleaned up the house some more (always a work in progress) and put away this new sippy cup, glancing at the paper inside:

Do not leave child unattended?  With a sippy cup?  Why the F not, is a toddler going to choke on juice?

Also wrote this post reviewing a book I recently read.

9:00:  Nathan gets home, showers, and makes something to eat before we watch an episode of the Sopranos from Netflix and go to bed about 11:00.

Just another day in the life, they are pretty good right now.

 

Book Review: Blue Clay People

Blue Clay People: Seasons on Africa’s Fragile Edge – another one by William Powers.  I liked this for all the same reasons I liked the last book of his I read, Twelve by Twelve. 

But this one is even better because it provides such a captivating picture of what Liberia was like when he worked there in 1999.  The book is a perfect mix of stories about every day life there, analysis of the de-foresting and diamond mining issues (without being boring), and drama in his personal life.

One chapter that was a little heartbreaking was when he returns home to the U.S. for a mandatory leave a year into his job.  He was in long distance relationship with his serious girlfriend and has dinner with her and her friends who are talking about their big diamond engagement rings, five figure corporate dinner tabs, and fancy new furniture.  He doesn’t know how to react.

They had been talking about engagement, but break up by the time he returns to Liberia.

Although I’ve never been to a third world country or had a relationship end because of ideological issues, I could empathize.

Once you’ve realized the disgusting truth about something, whether it’s what kind of destruction may have occurred to produce your beautiful furniture or how much an animal has suffered to produce that meal you’re eating…  it’s hard to go back to taking enjoyment in those things.

There are lots of funny moments in the book too though, I’d recommend it to anyone. So go check out Blue Clay People.

Getting out of the Slump…

Spent the weekend slowly trying to climb out of my Winter Bleh mode.

Nathan helped by surprising me yesterday with a mexican salad dinner, complete with mexican beer, so we could pretend we were right there on the beach.  (Ha, yeah right.)  But, still lovely to have someone else cut up everything and arrange it in a nice little salad buffet:

That’s romaine lettuce topped with warm corn & black beans, spring onion, fresh tomato, avocado, salsa, and tortilla chips.   Would also be great with some vegan sour cream.

Then today I:

-Deep cleaned and re-organized the bathroom.  Not fun, but feels great now that it’s done.

-Took a long walk despite it being in the 20′s.  Worth it for the fresh air.

-Picked up a Vitamin D supplement.  My regular multi says it has 100% daily value, but I was just reading that if you’re deficient (which most of us Minnesotans are!) then you need to take more.  Vitamin D deficiency causes lack of energy and depression in the winter, and supposedly you can feel better after supplementing for just a few days.

-Finally took off my sparkly red x-mas toenail polish.  I paint my toes maybe once a year, like it for 2 days, and then get sick of it but am too lazy to remove the polish.  Two months after I put it on, feels great to have nice clean nails again.

-Keep telling myself to take pleasure in these little things and not think about how far away spring is.

Having little things to look forward to is key.  This week had the potential to suck because I’m “working” (nannying for another baby, which I don’t think I’ve mentioned here yet) two full days.  A full day with my own ranges from tiring to really fun, but with another one who is not mine and has a tendency to whine…  a LOT…  can drive me crazy.

But, Nathan got Tues. off work to spend v-day with his ladies, so that’ll be a nice break.

I’m also thinking of splurging on a few hot yoga sessions in the near future.  Just the possibility of that cheers me up.

What are your inexpensive ways to get out of a winter funk?