Smacksy Sunday Links

Backyard Things

This question is the most important thing.

Ways reading makes your life better.

Trees have their own songs.

This mystery woman of the art world.

And tiny kittens and a tiny pig.

Happy Sunday.

Smacksy Saturday Photo: Not a Belly Itcher

Bob Rosenberg did a little pitching this evening. Third game of the day. 

Extremely Casual Friday

Today Mr. Rosenberg worked from home rather than drive across town to Santa Monica. When you work out of our house, you get most of the bed to yourself, and an adorable, golden haired, administrative assistant. And your own parking space.

Painty

This unknown gal is on a mural on the side of a building at the community center park where Bob has baseball practice.

Or

This is me, wearing a seaweed dress, doing the V-is-for-victory sign after successfully parallel parking (with two inches to spare on either side) in front of the community center park where Bob has baseball practice.

Or

Both.

Sweet Dreams

There are times when I wake up at 3:00am and have a hard time falling back asleep. I've read that the best thing to do is get up and read, drink some warm milk or herbal tea or do something monotonous like fold laundry and whatever you do, don't get on a screen.

So my usual 3:00am routine is to make some middle-of-the-night coffee (I know), and get on my computer. I check email, cruise Facebook, and then I go on Ebay and window shop. I add dresses and shoes and cardigans to my Watch List.

Sometimes though, I have to break with tradition and buy some sweet, middle-of-the-night, drastically discounted, green sandals.

And then I fall asleep. (Yes, even after the coffee.)

Huddle Up

"Mom? The best thing about having more than one game in a day is that after the first game, I figure out what all my mistakes were so I can fix them and then be even better in the second game!"

Edges

When Bob was old enough to crawl, we gave away our dangerous-for-babies glass coffee table. We replaced it with a large upholstered ottoman with soft edges. Now, ten years later, we felt it was time to let the baby-proofed furniture go and get a grown up coffee table.

Yesterday, we left the ottoman at the curb in front of our house with a "free" sign on it. An hour later, a couple pulled up and wrestled it into the back of their van. I came out to the front steps and waved and thanked them for taking it.

Mr. Rosenberg put together the new coffee table that was delivered to our door in a giant box. The table is wood and metal and has pointy, grown-up edges. We have breakable things sitting out on the new coffee table because it's ten years later and our baby is 5'1" and everyone is growing up and the new coffee table is one more thing that proves that time is speeding by.

And Ted has claimed the bottom shelf for his personal chin rest.

Smacksy Sunday Links

Ted is enjoying a dog biscuit. Ted is happy. Be like Ted.

Living emotionally un-stuffed.

How to read a book a week.

Gorgeous photographs of early Native Americans.

The most Shazamed songs of all time.

And ferrets playing in packing peanuts.

Happy Sunday.

Smacksy Saturday Photo: My New Nemisis/Assistant

Remember last year when I learned to keep score for Bob's little league baseball team? I learned in a paper score book. It was hard for me and I wasn't great at it. This year, I'm learning to keep score for Bob's Pony League team. I've been instructed to use a scorekeeping app. The main problem so far is that the game moves fast and I move slow. Everyone tells me this app is "easier" than the old-school way. Everyone is adorable and wrong.

The Gold Mining Play in Room 18

"Thinkin'? Now, what're you doin' a fool thing like that fer?"

"Perfect Bob. I think you've got all your lines memorized. What kind of voice are you going to use?"

"Um? My own voice?"

"I mean for your character. His name is 'Grubby.' Don't you think he'd sound like an old guy?"

"I'm not doing a weird voice, Mom."

"Maybe he's got a limp!"

"No, Mom."

"Maybe he's kind of hunched over, like this."

"Mom..."

"It's acting, Bob! How about a little character background? He's supposed to be panning for gold while he's talking, right? How's your space work? Maybe his teeth whistle when he talksss like thisss."

"Please stop."

Headed to Practice

"Beck? What do you like better - soccer or baseball?"

"Baseball, Bob. Totally baseball."

"Totally."

2D Me

If you've ever texted with me, then you've seen cartoon (Bitmoji) me before. I depend on this gal when words fail. We're a lot alike.

We have the same interests.

Part of each of us is sort of stuck in the 80s.

We're superhero-y in our own minds.

I kind of love her.

A Little Off

"It's so weird, Bob. All day I've been feeling like it's Tuesday."

"Mom, it is Tuesday."

"Oh."

"Mom."

The Deal

"Mom? Thanks for taking me to all my baseball things. It's like every day."

"I'm happy to. It's not every day."

"It's six days a week. Sometimes twice a day."

"That's true. Don't forget - I only ask one thing in return."

"When I get to the major leagues, I have to use your walk-on song."

"Which is?"

"'Kashmir' by Led Zeppelin."

"Correct."

"I know, Mom. I know."

Smacksy Sunday Links

Ready.

Your intuition is more powerful than your intellect.

She's worn the same thing every day for a year.

The wind telephone. I love it so.

If I were a ballerina.

And a baby bunny.

Happy Easter Sunday.

Smacksy Saturday Photo: The Rosenberg Credo

Found this morning at the first (of three) baseball games of the day.

A Good Egg, A Good Friday

Our first time dyeing eggs with the non-PAAS, hippie, "natural," fruit and vegetable dye. The colors are deep and there is no vinegar involved. (Is it weird that I kind of miss the horrible boiled egg/vinegar smell of the old-school egg dye?)

I've got to break out the ceramic bunny figurines. Easter is upon us.

Early Call

"Mom, I've got three games on Saturday, right?"

"You do."

"What time do we have to be at the first one?"

"7:30 in the morning."

"Wow. Are you going to bring coffee?"

"What do you think?"

"I think maybe you should bring some donuts too."

Z is for Zucchini

We've started a little garden this spring. The first vegetable going in? The classic, prolific, and un-killable, zucchini.

If you've done any gardening before, you already know how this will end. A tiny six-leaved sprout will soon become a green monster that takes over the whole yard. There will be dozens and dozens of zucchinis. We will make zucchini roasted, sauteed, grilled, and turn it into sweet bread. If you live in the neighborhood, go to school with Bob, are on one of his baseball teams, or deliver our mail, you will be gifted with a bag of zucchini. I may take a tip from my friend Nancy and leave the zucchinis on the passenger seats of cars whose doors are left unlocked in the parking lot.

How do you know I am living on the edge? I planted two.

Milestone #47

It's The Volcano Science Experiment. I love this one. It's right up there with The Macaroni Necklace. 

Agreed

"You know that sound, Mom? The sound when the ball hits the bat? Really cracks it? It's the best sound in the whole world."

Smacksy Sunday Links

Ted loves a hotel.

One behavior separates the successful from the average.

Practices for the overwhelmed, stressed, and anxious.

How to spring clean your soul.

11 authors who hated the movie versions of their books.

And raccoons with bubbles.

Happy Sunday.

Smacksy Saturday Photo: Land Shark

When the hotel guy gives you your own shark-pal, you know it's going to be a good staycation.

Spring Break: Friday

Sometimes, you just have to get to the water.

Just Now

Deep breath in. Hold it. Deeper. Hold it. Deeper. Hold it. Deep breath out.

Neighborhood Cowboy

Bob and I went out for pancakes this morning at the coffee shop by our house.  One of the morning regulars we see around town is a guy we call Neighborhood Cowboy. Neighborhood Cowboy is an elderly Chinese gentleman who dresses in jeans, cowboy hat, and cowboy boots everyday. He is generally in a t-shirt with suspenders and completes his ensemble with a plastic 99 Cent Store logo bag filled with newspapers. 

As our food was brought to the table, we noticed Neighborhood Cowboy coming through the door. He took a seat at the far side of the counter next to the guys my mom might refer to as his "cronies."

Bob (whispers): "Mom, did you see what it said on Neighborhood Cowboy's shirt?"

Me: "No. What was it?"

Bob: "It's a cartoon Jack-o-Lantern pooping and it says, 'Where pumpkin pie really comes from.'"

Me: "That's awesome."

Bob: That's SO awesome."

Small Bob

A few weeks ago, as I was tucking Bob in at bedtime, he asked me to tell him a story about when he was little. Sleep deprivation and mom-brain were a bad combo back then, setting me up to not remember much. Then it occurred to me.

I pulled out my phone and searched Smacksy, May 2009. I went back to the very beginning of the blog and started to read. Now, it's our new thing. Because I have posted every day since I started the blog, if I read one story a day, it will take us eight years to get to today and I will never catch up. Perfect.

We are both delighted.

Batting, Batting, and Then More Batting

If you need me, I'll be on this side of the net.

Smacksy Sunday Links

A page from my art journal

Do more things that make you forget to check your phone.

Think like a bronze medalist instead of silver.

In praise of the book tower. I'm all about the book tower.

Using paper cutouts to turn famous landmarks into art. I love people.

And a dog and his prairie dog.

Happy Sunday.

Smacksy Saturday Photo: Get a Room

Seriously.