Michael and I celebrated our 19th anniversary. 19! I can't believe it's been a whole year since I wrote!
The subtitle for the last few weeks could be: Birdy coughs; Catherine gets up with her; Catherine stays up after Birdy falls asleep with a lollipop in her mouth and lollipop juice pooling into her hair, long into the night, starting and finishing many novels. And the sub-subtitle could be: Lynda Barry's novel Cruddy, I wish I knew how to quit you. It's like a cross between Catcher in the Rye and a David Cronenberg movie, and it so gruesomely absorbing that I'm miserable.
Michael's subtitle could be: What? I can't hear you! I'm still in the basement, vacuuming water! (Shop vac, I wish I knew how to quit you.)
And Ben's could be: Package of stick-on mustaches, I wish I knew how to quit you. (FYI, the sheriff no longer has long hair. But more on that another time.)
I have new columns here, here, and here.
Miss you guys.
xo
Holy Toledo, that's Ben!!!! It must have been a whole year since you posted because even behind the mustache I can't believe that's Ben. Maybe it's just because my oldest turns 8 (8!!!!!!) this week and I traditionally spend the entire week or so before her birthday alternating between astonishment at how old she is and astonishment at how old I am. Hope you guys stay dry and healthy this March.
ReplyDeleteThat picture is the greatest. I love the serious face.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE the update. I'll try to comment on Wondertime.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry, but when did he get so BIG?! Gracious. The serious face almost makes him look like a teenager.
ReplyDeleteIt's fun to see a kid with a bag of stick-on mustaches! I'll have to try that sometime with my son!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on 19! We're just a few years behind you, which sometimes seems impossible but other times, just right.
ReplyDeleteBen looks wicked in the 'stache.
Love the new post, photo and all. Hope things pick up for ya' soon. Is it just me or is everyone exhausted from the time change?!
ReplyDeletep.s. I do not wish to be anonymous, but I can't get this to post otherwise. It's me, Katemma!
All I could think was, "Lollipop juice! How well I know you- how much I loathe you." Is there anything worse? (You're probably thinking, "Um, yes. Water in my basement.")
ReplyDeleteNice to have you back! I can't wait to hear the story about the hair.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a happy time in life ;) Really though - 19 years! Congrats on that! And ya - how the heck did Ben get so big!
ReplyDeleteUm. I have to know what happened to the hair. And see a new picture. Soon. Now would be good. Thks.
ReplyDeleteAnd it has only been a couple weeks, silly. :)
I can't stop laughing! That picture is the greatest!!!
ReplyDeleteI agree with everyone. When did he start looking so old?!? (Even sans the sweet, furry mustachio.) :-)
That is the best expression ever. I love how in character he is.
ReplyDeleteLOL!!!!! LOL!!!!! LOL!!!!
ReplyDeleteI have to admit that, after clicking daily onto your blog for almost a MONTH, I actually thought to myself "I am a stalker, I need to STOP checking her blog, she is obviously NEVER going to post!!"
(I often post here, but it always says "Anonymous" because I cannot figure out how to register my name!)
Catherine, where have you been???!!! Obviously you've told us now!!!
Can I BEEEEEEE more of a stalker that I've missed your posting so much??!!!!
I hear you, sick child and flooding basements, sounds similar, if not exact, to my/our world over here!
Hey, I too live on East Coast, (NJ) and want to share with you, Catherine-the-Great-Worrier, that I actually, not a joke, made my husband and 2 children and 2 dogs move to the family room in basement in middle of the night during our huge winds on Sat. night, because I was worried that the huge pine tree in our backyard would fall over and crush us all in our beds while we slept!!!
(Am I allowed to post this much long blathering???!!)
Hugs to you, mommy of ill child and wet basement!
Oh, _Cruddy_ totally flattened me! I WAY prefer her comic-strip books, which have some light and funny to balance out the Terrible Heaviness of Being.
ReplyDeleteI too, go through this daily with my Danny, 5 years old, full of so much love and frustration all at the same moment. He warms and breaks my heart all in an instant.
ReplyDeleteAnd, having had a tree fall on my house in the wind in late January, that is not an irrational fear, now all too real in our lives... it has been a month and a half of insanity, relocation, phone calls and contractors. I pray no tree ever falls on anyones home ever... and we lie awake at night, literally crossing fingers and toes, knowing it won't and can't happen again, right?
Hope your basement dries out soon and that the kids are soon well... it has been a long winter of sickness here too.
That photo is a riot.
ReplyDeleteCan I just say that I was lying awake on Sat night and praying, literally, that a tree wouldn't fall on my house either.
ReplyDeleteOh my God, Ben in the 'stache.... HILARIOUS!!
ReplyDeleteThe sherrif is looking good! I'm a little sad that his hair is gone.
ReplyDeleteOMG! Is Ben starring in his school's production of "There Will Be Blood"?? What a great photo.
ReplyDeleteI was so happy to leave February behind as I spent most nights rocking my one year old in the hopes that it would prevent the cough-gag-barf. Then just when I thought our linens, floors and towels were safe the stomach bug hit over the weekend - the whole family. I can't tell you how many times I muttered the word that you coined so long ago... barftastrophe.
ReplyDeleteSo far the shop vac has gone unused, but I think we've had less rain here in eastern mass. Did I really just put that in writing? Gotta go knock wood.
-Kira
OMG! Why are self-adhesive mustaches SO much fun?? We are addicted. I just took a photo of my 9-year-old daughter and caught the side of her face, looking into the distance, no smile. She looked about 14. It gave my heart such a start! And then my 6-year-old got in trouble for mooning the preschool class. From the ridiculous to the absurd
ReplyDeleteUnleashing. (sniff)
ReplyDeleteThat's me. And that's what I hate the most about me.
It doesn't happen often, but it's not pretty, and I wonder if it's all the more scarring because of the rarity.
And also my sarcasm, which I seem to save for the 7 year old (the 4 year old misses out on that little pleasure...). The other day, the 7 y.o. was saying how at school, two friends were trying to talk to him at once, and he turned to the lesser friend and said, "Do I LOOK like I have two heads? I don't. And that means I can't talk to both of you at the same time."
Kick in the gut. It was a tiny horrible me coming out of his precious beautiful mouth. Horrible. Horrible. Horrible.
Must. do. better...
Ok--less serious comment now, completely inspired by the mustache--
ReplyDeletePlease encourage Ben to say the following (avec mustache):
"I. drink. your. MILKSHAKE! I drink it up!"
Hi Catherine (long-time reader, new commenter). My son's hair, which looked almost exactly like Ben's before shot, now looks almost exactly like the after! Thank you for the inspiriation! It's the only haircut we'd seen that my husband agreed looked good. You and Ben saved the day. Thanks!
ReplyDelete